i have my google reader set up with a jillion RSS feeds.
(i have no idea how to explain what these things are, so please do whatever research you need to in order to get up to speed. it's not really important. let's liken it to...having a few weeks worth of 'the new yorker' sitting around, waiting to be read. or, your tivo is full of stuff that you haven't had time to watch. the point is, there's a lot and it's hard to keep up.)
anyway, if i don't keep up on a daily basis, it's nearly impossible to ever catch up. since one of them is headlines from NPR, there are hundreds of updates right there. then add in the page six gossip stories, which are 12 a day. then i subscribed to buzzfeed, which i am realizing is a total reader-killer. anyway, i am drowning in online content. i assume this must be how "real" bloggers keep up on things, because i can't imagine where anyone would find the time to search the internet for entirely original content. even if you were getting paid for it, which most bloggers aren't you'd get totally overwhelmed, i think. it takes hours to fully explore any really good site. so, it must be RSS.
in any case, i am WAY behind. i haven't check my RSS in days and it is telling me now that i have 1000+ stories. it literally says "1000+" like past 1000 the numbers are too fatiguing for it to even contemplate.
this blog entry will be a bunch of the stuff i like, as i am powering through my RSS feeds, many of which i am just going to delete, because life is short and i have a disk of 'battlestar gallactica' to watch and i have my priorities.
also, i am too lazy and too small time to worry about correctly citing where everything is from, but if you go to the site to pursue the link, obviously you'll see the original material, so i think i'm still doing okay and not violating any kind of blogger code of ethics. (as if i cared.)
* so glad i found this, because i was wondering about some of this stuff and was afraid to ask.
* sweet baby jesus, this is so upsetting, on so many levels. which levels? 1) there is a real person who has to go through his life looking like this. 2) he's so creepy looking that people assume he can't be real. 3) he is a fucking SEX OFFENDER, which is both icky and also kinda understandable because LOOK AT HIM. who is going to have sex with him voluntarily? my parents are big believers in the idea that we choose our lives each time - choose our parents and our life situations - to help us work out whatever lessons we need to this time around. sure, why not? but WOW, he chose a tough incarnation this time around. WHOA.
* i don't know who half of these people are, but the ones i do know are funny enough to make it worthwhile. (don't bother if you're not a music snob. it's a waste of time.)
* this is a joke site that is sure to offend all my fundamentalist christian readers. (i have no fundamentalist christian readers that i am aware of.) for everyone else, it's literally hours of hilarity making fun of fundamentalist christians.
* this article about a new slow food movement in new york made me want to move to brooklyn and get all foodie. don't tell shannon, but i think i am in love with one of the chocolate-making brothers. (the one who looks like shannon.)
* i know it's linguistic elitism to decry the devolution of my version of the english language, and to feel like it's all falling apart because of lazy grunters and endless IMing, but it makes me glad to know that someone, somewhere, finds this stuff worth noting. (though they're in the UK, which is a completely different language, but still....)
* you guys, poor bernard madoff has been under house arrest in his manhattan penthouse for WEEKS. hasn't the poor man suffered enough?! answer: not even close. i love the last part, where he says he should get to keep his penthouse and $60 mill in assets because they're in his wife's name. aside from publicly spanking him on his testicles 50 billion times, i can't think of a non-death penalty punishment strict enough for him.
* this month is the 150th birthday of dr. seuss himself, theodore geisel, so here are some seuss-related tid-bits
.
* i am literally sending healing vibes to coolio and his family right now. one might say they're in my prayers.
* i hesitate to even link to this sketch because some of you are going to think it's really disgusting and some are going to thinks it's really dumb. but somewhere, someone might see this and think it's really, really funny, too. i am warning you, though, guys (uncle keith), you're not going to think this is funny. it's partly about a guy who has sex with his cat. so, warning.
* i don't even watch tv and i have never seen this particular infomercial, but i laughed out loud anyway.
* dear justin timberlake, i love you. (via lisanti quarterly, which is awesome.)
* good luck not spending at least a few moments of your life jamming out with this. (via max silvestr, via a zillion other people.)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
grab bag, 2/27/09.
* it's the website for my famous little pup and his famous little siblings! check in often to see how the wee pooches are doing, and maybe buy a calendar!
* when i first moved to LA, me and lu lived in an amazing shopping neighborhood. there were a lot of things about that neighborhood that sucked, like the traffic and being a million miles away from every freeway and the lack of like-minded people living nearby (at least none we found.) but there was a LOT that was great about it, and it really was the perfect neighborhood for us to live in when we first got there. it was really centrally located, so not being near freeways wasn't that big a deal, though lu was dating a guy who lived in pasadena, so that sucked for both of them. it was a manageable driving distance from UCLA. there were a lot of tasty restaurants within walking distance, including the best coffee i have ever had. (seriously. it's amazing and so intense. if coffee is pot, this coffee is totally hash.)it was a couple of blocks away from the beverly center, which is a giant mammoth of a mall. and, aside from the bev, there was really, really, really good shopping on 3rd. really good.
among the stores on 3rd that i'd haunt, like a little starving, fashion conscious student ghost, there were several that seemed to sell only candles and soap and stuff. that doesn't seem like a very appealing mix to me in my head, since i don't burn candles much, and i don't just buy bars of soap on impulse, but there was a candle in one of those stores that was the yummiest smelling thing i had ever found in the entire world. i would visit the candle, and smell it, before wandering on to keep browsing because it was ridiculously expensive (for me, for a candle.)
but i couldn't get it out of my head. it had a smokey, almost creamy smell. it came in a gorgeous deep red smoked glass container, with a cool picture on it in relief, with an elephant and some words in french which i was eventually able to figure out was the name of the company and some reference to tea, which made sense. turns out the scent of the tea was earl grey tea. YUM. so, when i got my student loan disbursement one quarter, i splurged and bought it.
oh man, how delicious our apartment smelled, which was quite a feat, since our apartment was not a naturally tasty smelling place since we lived across the hallway from a huge open garbage pit thingie that bred cockroaches. so maybe the smell was more smokey earl grey tea mixed with hot garbage. but still, that's better than just hot garbage.
and, as happens with many things we love and use accordingly, eventually there was only a thin little layer of was on the bottom. despite trying to ration my usage to stave off this eventuality, it happened. so i decided the enjoyment was worth the cost, especially since shannon liked the smell of it, too, and shannon hates scented everything! see? it was a GOOD BUY!
but, alas, the store i'd bought it from had closed. and all google searches for the company came up with nothing. and i am not going to pretend i didn't seriously despair.
that was a few years ago. i have come to a place of peace about the loss. i barely ever think about how tasty that candle was. so imagine my positive DELIGHT when i found a reference to the french tea house that makes the candle in this week's GOOP newsletter from gwyneth paltrow! and, searching the website, I FOUND MY CANDLE!!!! and they have more candles that are probably totally yummy, too!!
a sobering check on the exchange rate from euro to dollar shows me that a single candle off this website is $57. >gulp.< but man, i really want it.
* people, compassionate fascism says absolutely not to fundamentalism of all kinds. so, behead your wives and bomb abortion clinics while you still can because your days are numbered. (obviously obama's social spending and just the beginning of the rebuilding of the welfare state, which is laying the groundwork for government taking over every aspect of our lives, which will be the perfect time for compassionate fascism.)
* i'm concerned about what happens 'when shit goes down' and so is the onion.
Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?
* when i first moved to LA, me and lu lived in an amazing shopping neighborhood. there were a lot of things about that neighborhood that sucked, like the traffic and being a million miles away from every freeway and the lack of like-minded people living nearby (at least none we found.) but there was a LOT that was great about it, and it really was the perfect neighborhood for us to live in when we first got there. it was really centrally located, so not being near freeways wasn't that big a deal, though lu was dating a guy who lived in pasadena, so that sucked for both of them. it was a manageable driving distance from UCLA. there were a lot of tasty restaurants within walking distance, including the best coffee i have ever had. (seriously. it's amazing and so intense. if coffee is pot, this coffee is totally hash.)it was a couple of blocks away from the beverly center, which is a giant mammoth of a mall. and, aside from the bev, there was really, really, really good shopping on 3rd. really good.
among the stores on 3rd that i'd haunt, like a little starving, fashion conscious student ghost, there were several that seemed to sell only candles and soap and stuff. that doesn't seem like a very appealing mix to me in my head, since i don't burn candles much, and i don't just buy bars of soap on impulse, but there was a candle in one of those stores that was the yummiest smelling thing i had ever found in the entire world. i would visit the candle, and smell it, before wandering on to keep browsing because it was ridiculously expensive (for me, for a candle.)
but i couldn't get it out of my head. it had a smokey, almost creamy smell. it came in a gorgeous deep red smoked glass container, with a cool picture on it in relief, with an elephant and some words in french which i was eventually able to figure out was the name of the company and some reference to tea, which made sense. turns out the scent of the tea was earl grey tea. YUM. so, when i got my student loan disbursement one quarter, i splurged and bought it.
oh man, how delicious our apartment smelled, which was quite a feat, since our apartment was not a naturally tasty smelling place since we lived across the hallway from a huge open garbage pit thingie that bred cockroaches. so maybe the smell was more smokey earl grey tea mixed with hot garbage. but still, that's better than just hot garbage.
and, as happens with many things we love and use accordingly, eventually there was only a thin little layer of was on the bottom. despite trying to ration my usage to stave off this eventuality, it happened. so i decided the enjoyment was worth the cost, especially since shannon liked the smell of it, too, and shannon hates scented everything! see? it was a GOOD BUY!
but, alas, the store i'd bought it from had closed. and all google searches for the company came up with nothing. and i am not going to pretend i didn't seriously despair.
that was a few years ago. i have come to a place of peace about the loss. i barely ever think about how tasty that candle was. so imagine my positive DELIGHT when i found a reference to the french tea house that makes the candle in this week's GOOP newsletter from gwyneth paltrow! and, searching the website, I FOUND MY CANDLE!!!! and they have more candles that are probably totally yummy, too!!
a sobering check on the exchange rate from euro to dollar shows me that a single candle off this website is $57. >gulp.< but man, i really want it.
* people, compassionate fascism says absolutely not to fundamentalism of all kinds. so, behead your wives and bomb abortion clinics while you still can because your days are numbered. (obviously obama's social spending and just the beginning of the rebuilding of the welfare state, which is laying the groundwork for government taking over every aspect of our lives, which will be the perfect time for compassionate fascism.)
* i'm concerned about what happens 'when shit goes down' and so is the onion.
Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
le plus ca change, the plus c'est le meme chose.
* stay classy, new york post.
* we're having some serious budget problems in california.
glad to see that the republicans in our state are moved by the spirit of bi-partisanship that's sweeping the nation.
just kidding, that's not happening in washington or in california.
what the fuck is wrong with america?
oh, i know. TOO MANY CHOICES and too many people whose opinions don't matter having a say in things.
this crap would NEVER happen if i were running stuff.
i'd take the head republicans and the governor and the head democrats and knock all their heads together, then give them all a public spanking for being a bunch of ninnies and letting things get to this point.
i'm so sick of the republicans and the democrats taking turns being the boss and then punishing whoever was in charge before. and i'm sick of whoever is on the bottom being a bunch of whiny contrarians. also, democrats, how the fuck did you let CALIFORNIA have so many republicans that they can completely stop these negotiations? blowing it, democrats. blowing it.
WORK IT OUT.
compassionate fascism works because we just make the right decisions for everyone and we're not really interested in ideological differences of opinions because we've got a fucking country to run and it's possible we know a little more about running a country that moonbeam stargazer in berkeley, or cletus q. overbite in spitoon, tx.
obviously we can't solve the budget crisis with ALL spending cuts, nor can it be ALL tax hikes. it'll be a combination of both because that's what needs to happen.
enough. shut up. make it happen.
* i know i'm kinda fixated on this octuplets lady, but i just keep having her shoved in my face. this article is upsetting because she is so obviously obsessed with angelina jolie and is lying about it. also because of her poor mother's quote at the end.
* this article is upsetting because it just adds on to the established pattern of behavior from this family. i'll admit, my first thought when reading that headline was to think about what losers that family is, which is unlike me. i lay a greater weight of responsibility on unscrupulous lenders in this whole housing mess, because they were making loans that they knew the people could never afford. these idiots ought to have known that the deals they were getting were too good to be true, but obviously common sense and the ability to take responsibility for one's actions is not a highly prized skill in our culture, so how could they be expected to NOT think that they deserved to own homes they couldn't afford? but those lenders, THEY knew. so, shame on them.
so, this family, with the parents who are behind on their house payments because they had an adjustable rate mortgage, and the daughter who keeps making kids in her freaky science experiment way... could they cost tax payers more money? because i'm sure the parents are going to want help negotiating their mortgage, which they should be able to do, definitely, but is that going to come out of this new housing package? because being behind on your house payments because you're working full time raising the illegitimate children of your own (obviously) poorly-raised daughters isn't a very good excuse.
(i know it is easy to blame parents for kids who turn out idiots or criminals or just bad people. sometimes good parents end up with kids who are duds. i know being a parent isn't easy, and i certainly don't suggest that it is. you do the best you can and hope for the best, like in everything else in life. but to look at this baby-hoarder, and see her behavior, and see what a weirdo she is, doesn't that suggest something went awry in her upbringing? if the only problem is that they keep enabling her to make these catastrophically terrible decisions, isn't that a huge, huge mistake? yes, it is.)
so this family is costing us for the daughter's disability. it's costing us for her food stamps and disability payments for her kids who have special needs. it's costing us for her hospital stay, including a few weeks of care for SEVEN babies. it's costing us for her future student loans, which she imagines will be enough to support her and her 14 kids. it's probably going to cost us for them to keep their shoebox of a house. i just feel like it's not fair that people who aren't making terrible decisions or raising their kids to be selfish monsters should have to foot the bill. i'm bankrolling this crazy lady's lifestyle. not cool.
* last 'best night ever' with one of my internet boyfriends, max silvestri. i am making a sad face as i watch this. if you haven't watched it before, feel free to watch them all on that same site because they are consistently really, really funny. i don't even watch TV and i find them entertaining despite being entirely about tv.
* i'm really curious about the amazon kindle. i love the idea of saving the paper wasted to print books. i know that the traditional print industries are all struggling right now, and i feel not great about abandoning them, but i also feel like a paper-based industry is just asking for an overhaul. if we're all so concerned about trees and recycling and conserving, it seems like any industry that is built on semi- or non-renewable resources is out of sync. i can't count the number of books and magazines i've purchased or been given which i then gave to the library or left at the gym. i totally didn't need my own copy of either, because i had no intention of rereading them. like buying an mp3 instead of a cd, it uses a lot less resources to get the digital version of media instead, or at least first. if i love an album i got online, i'll often buy the cd. also, how futuristic is the kindle, right? imagine having THAT with you on vacation, instead of lugging around a paperback or something, trying to buy english language books in a foreign country, having the new yorker with you already. good stuff, right?
but what if it totally sucks, or it lacks the magic of paper books? i know the having music in digital format has sort of ruined music for me. apparently having access to so much music devalues my music and makes it a lot harder to bond intensely with any single album the way i used to. though, could that be age? i just find that since i got my first ipod, i have had much faster turnaround time with music, where i'll be intensely interested in an album or artist, then it fades. what if the kindle does that for books?
i also question whether reading something on a hand held will be icky feeling, like reading stuff online is. i find it much more difficult to retain information that i've read online, like an article i am supposed to download for school vs. a printed hand out. what if the kindle is the same way?
any thoughts?
* we're having some serious budget problems in california.
glad to see that the republicans in our state are moved by the spirit of bi-partisanship that's sweeping the nation.
just kidding, that's not happening in washington or in california.
what the fuck is wrong with america?
oh, i know. TOO MANY CHOICES and too many people whose opinions don't matter having a say in things.
this crap would NEVER happen if i were running stuff.
i'd take the head republicans and the governor and the head democrats and knock all their heads together, then give them all a public spanking for being a bunch of ninnies and letting things get to this point.
i'm so sick of the republicans and the democrats taking turns being the boss and then punishing whoever was in charge before. and i'm sick of whoever is on the bottom being a bunch of whiny contrarians. also, democrats, how the fuck did you let CALIFORNIA have so many republicans that they can completely stop these negotiations? blowing it, democrats. blowing it.
WORK IT OUT.
compassionate fascism works because we just make the right decisions for everyone and we're not really interested in ideological differences of opinions because we've got a fucking country to run and it's possible we know a little more about running a country that moonbeam stargazer in berkeley, or cletus q. overbite in spitoon, tx.
obviously we can't solve the budget crisis with ALL spending cuts, nor can it be ALL tax hikes. it'll be a combination of both because that's what needs to happen.
enough. shut up. make it happen.
* i know i'm kinda fixated on this octuplets lady, but i just keep having her shoved in my face. this article is upsetting because she is so obviously obsessed with angelina jolie and is lying about it. also because of her poor mother's quote at the end.
* this article is upsetting because it just adds on to the established pattern of behavior from this family. i'll admit, my first thought when reading that headline was to think about what losers that family is, which is unlike me. i lay a greater weight of responsibility on unscrupulous lenders in this whole housing mess, because they were making loans that they knew the people could never afford. these idiots ought to have known that the deals they were getting were too good to be true, but obviously common sense and the ability to take responsibility for one's actions is not a highly prized skill in our culture, so how could they be expected to NOT think that they deserved to own homes they couldn't afford? but those lenders, THEY knew. so, shame on them.
so, this family, with the parents who are behind on their house payments because they had an adjustable rate mortgage, and the daughter who keeps making kids in her freaky science experiment way... could they cost tax payers more money? because i'm sure the parents are going to want help negotiating their mortgage, which they should be able to do, definitely, but is that going to come out of this new housing package? because being behind on your house payments because you're working full time raising the illegitimate children of your own (obviously) poorly-raised daughters isn't a very good excuse.
(i know it is easy to blame parents for kids who turn out idiots or criminals or just bad people. sometimes good parents end up with kids who are duds. i know being a parent isn't easy, and i certainly don't suggest that it is. you do the best you can and hope for the best, like in everything else in life. but to look at this baby-hoarder, and see her behavior, and see what a weirdo she is, doesn't that suggest something went awry in her upbringing? if the only problem is that they keep enabling her to make these catastrophically terrible decisions, isn't that a huge, huge mistake? yes, it is.)
so this family is costing us for the daughter's disability. it's costing us for her food stamps and disability payments for her kids who have special needs. it's costing us for her hospital stay, including a few weeks of care for SEVEN babies. it's costing us for her future student loans, which she imagines will be enough to support her and her 14 kids. it's probably going to cost us for them to keep their shoebox of a house. i just feel like it's not fair that people who aren't making terrible decisions or raising their kids to be selfish monsters should have to foot the bill. i'm bankrolling this crazy lady's lifestyle. not cool.
* last 'best night ever' with one of my internet boyfriends, max silvestri. i am making a sad face as i watch this. if you haven't watched it before, feel free to watch them all on that same site because they are consistently really, really funny. i don't even watch TV and i find them entertaining despite being entirely about tv.
* i'm really curious about the amazon kindle. i love the idea of saving the paper wasted to print books. i know that the traditional print industries are all struggling right now, and i feel not great about abandoning them, but i also feel like a paper-based industry is just asking for an overhaul. if we're all so concerned about trees and recycling and conserving, it seems like any industry that is built on semi- or non-renewable resources is out of sync. i can't count the number of books and magazines i've purchased or been given which i then gave to the library or left at the gym. i totally didn't need my own copy of either, because i had no intention of rereading them. like buying an mp3 instead of a cd, it uses a lot less resources to get the digital version of media instead, or at least first. if i love an album i got online, i'll often buy the cd. also, how futuristic is the kindle, right? imagine having THAT with you on vacation, instead of lugging around a paperback or something, trying to buy english language books in a foreign country, having the new yorker with you already. good stuff, right?
but what if it totally sucks, or it lacks the magic of paper books? i know the having music in digital format has sort of ruined music for me. apparently having access to so much music devalues my music and makes it a lot harder to bond intensely with any single album the way i used to. though, could that be age? i just find that since i got my first ipod, i have had much faster turnaround time with music, where i'll be intensely interested in an album or artist, then it fades. what if the kindle does that for books?
i also question whether reading something on a hand held will be icky feeling, like reading stuff online is. i find it much more difficult to retain information that i've read online, like an article i am supposed to download for school vs. a printed hand out. what if the kindle is the same way?
any thoughts?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
in the news.
some odds and ends.
thought i'd keep this separate from my anti-octuplet mom rant, where i alienate all readers who have received fertility treatments, had a bunch of abortions, are big fans of life support, or don't believe in the evolutionary importance of thinning the herd.
* you guys, the bankers are really sorry and they swear they'll pay us back, real soon. this must be how bubbles's sister felt, when he'd come home and ask her for money or a place to say so he could get clean, and then went out to do heroin again, am i right? (that's about 'the wire.' you just don't get it.)
* yeah, mr. peanut factory owner, you're going to jail.
* oh, also, everyone associated with the madoff mess, you're going to jail, too.
* i'm on the fence about this. technically it's not helping anything or anyone and is a huge waste of time and money that she could be spending on more productive things. that is a central tenet of compassionate fascism, no wasted time or money on idiotic shamwow crap. but it's also really funny and rather sweet. any thoughts?
* aw. valentine's day.
thought i'd keep this separate from my anti-octuplet mom rant, where i alienate all readers who have received fertility treatments, had a bunch of abortions, are big fans of life support, or don't believe in the evolutionary importance of thinning the herd.
* you guys, the bankers are really sorry and they swear they'll pay us back, real soon. this must be how bubbles's sister felt, when he'd come home and ask her for money or a place to say so he could get clean, and then went out to do heroin again, am i right? (that's about 'the wire.' you just don't get it.)
* yeah, mr. peanut factory owner, you're going to jail.
* oh, also, everyone associated with the madoff mess, you're going to jail, too.
* i'm on the fence about this. technically it's not helping anything or anyone and is a huge waste of time and money that she could be spending on more productive things. that is a central tenet of compassionate fascism, no wasted time or money on idiotic shamwow crap. but it's also really funny and rather sweet. any thoughts?
* aw. valentine's day.
why is this a free country?
i have been getting very upset about the lady who had octuplets.
are you familiar with the basic outline of the story?
here are a few links to get you up to speed. i'll meet you back here.
* a general article with just the basics.
* the mom did an interview and some serious issues are coming up.
done reading?
okay, let's discuss this because i am freaking out a little bit about this...
i am totally pro-choice. i absolutely support a woman's right to choose what she wants or doesn't want to do with her body. abortion is a really sticky issue and not a thing i think anyone should take lightly. ideally, every single person would be totally aware of the fact that they could potentially create a new life EVERY TIME THEY HAVE SEX, because aside from abstinence, there are always improbable accidents with any method of birth control. yes, you will most likely not get pregnant if you are using responsible methods of birth control, but since it's a possibility, don't do it unless you're prepared to deal with the results, soberly and seriously, whatever those results are.
so, compassionate fascism is a pro-choice system, mostly because we don't need more people being brought into the world just because they've already been conceived. there are far, far, FAR more children than there are healthy families to raise them all. if we had a population shortage or something, i'd be willing to adjusting the birthing policy, but given the current state of the environment, pro-choice all the way, with some rules. for example, if you have beyond a certain number within a certain length of time, you must meet with a reproductive health counselor to talk about what the fuck is wrong with your birth control methods. if you're not using birth control, you'll be given a shot, since you can't be trusted to manage it yourself.
anyway... i digress.
this crazy octuplets lady.
you guys, she's a nightmare.
she used her disability payments to get fertility treatments.
she already had 6 kids, 3 of whom had special needs of some kind.
she had bizarre plastic surgery.
she says she's going back to school to get her degree and she'll support her kids with student loans.
the medical costs for her babies' delivery and continued care was submitted to medi-cal.
she's making me so mad.
and she brings up the point: should it really be a free country?
the entire idea behind compassionate fascism is this: most people aren't smart enough to make good decisions for themselves so they need to have those decisions made for them. like raising kids, you need to be firm, kind, loving and absolutely The Boss. so, the government is The Boss. to the extent that you are living a life where you're not hurting others, not making people's lives worse, you're contributing to society, you're given plenty of freedoms. the stuff that the government would take care of will be stuff no one really wants to pay for themselves anyway, like health care or education. (p.s. lawyers would all be public servants.) but if you prove yourself to be a dummy who can't make good decisions for yourself, and given the effect that one person's idiocy can have on other people around them (like an alcoholic's effect on a family), your freedoms will be diminished steadily to the point where all your decisions are made for you.
so, should this insane baby hoarder be allowed to make decisions for herself?
no.
no, she should not.
read about her and try to tell yourself her kids are NOT going to end up completely fucked because of what a crazy person she is.
it reminds me a lot of michael jackson and his kids. i really believe that michael jackson loves his kids. he's probably more like a kid than an adult, it seems, so he probably cares for them very, very deeply and really wants the best for them. but are we going to trust his judgment on what's best for him, given he named on blanket and another one prince michael?
compassionate fascism (or whatever we're calling it) says no, sir. we're taking your kids away. we don't need to see evidence of your kids being in an unhealthy, completely bizarre environment, because we have seen the pictures of you and them on the internet. compelling and persuasive evidence. so, mj, we're taking your kids away, where they'll be raised by normal people who will let them be seen in public and isn't suffering from from PTSD from being raised by a molesting monster show biz dad. you can totally spend time with them! but you don't get to raise them alone, away from any kind of scrutiny.
under compassionate fascism, this craziness with the octuplets would NEVER happen.
i'm really torn about fertility treatments already, given the afore-mentioned population problems. we don't need more people, even born into loving homes. why not raise one of the tons of great kids, all around the world, looking for homes?
i know that many, many women dream of giving birth and find it difficult once they get started, and i know that when the time comes for me and shannon to do baby-making, i would have a very hard time if i found out i couldn't get pregnant.
however, i wouldn't consider fertility treatments. if it doesn't happen, so be it. we'll adopt a chinese baby or something. (they're really popular in marin.)
part of the reason our population woes are so serious is that no one freakin' dies anymore. everyone is getting brain transplants and life support and fertility treatments and intensive care. we NEED the weakest members of the herd to be picked off by predators, so the herd as a whole can survive. you don't want the weakest, fattest, slowest, stupidest members of the herd reproducing because they'll just make more weak, slow, fat, stupid creatures. death is basically the most natural thing in the world, and compassionate fascism sees population control as one of the most important issues facing human kind, and we act accordingly. that means no long-term life support for people who are in vegetative states. no life support for babies that struggle after a certain point. organ transplants will be severely limited. we need an attitude that people die and that, while it's very, very sad, it's also the way things are.
so, nadya suleman would NEVER have gotten fertility treatments. ever. in fact, once she had three kids she'd need to submit to some serious psychological testing to be allowed to have another kid. sorry, compassionate fascism takes baby-making seriously and it's not for nutbar drains on the welfare system.
also, that quack doctor who implanted her with all those embryos would be in jail. seriously. jail for a doctor means treating inmates in prison, while you're in prison. no reason for all the knowledge to go to waste. being a doctor means you have great powers and with great power comes great responsibility and you, mr. quack doctor, are misusing your powers and you are a jerk and a criminal and negligent and you're going to jail to treat inmate's STDs.
and nadya, i'm sorry, but you're being sterilized. people who really love kids have a few and then run a day care center or become teachers. they do not have more and more and more like they're running their own human puppy mill. that's hoarding, you weirdo, and you have proven you are not sane enough to make your own decisions, so we're going to make the decisions for you. we're taking your babies, because you can't afford to raise them anyway, and we're taking the three kids who have special needs, because you're not giving them the care they need, i am sure of it. you can keep your three able-bodied kids, but you're being assigned a full-time government nanny, who will be monitoring for any signs of you messing them up, and we'll totally take them away if we have to.
under compassionate fascism, it's not really a free country because most people are too dumb to manage the freedoms available to them, so we'll handle stuff so you can just hang out and watch 'ow! my nuts!' or whatever reality television you prefer.
wow, that was pretty serious wasn't it?
maybe you should watch that little kid on pain killers again, to clear the palette?
how about reading what mark lisanti has to tell us about the bail out? the socket-humping wasn't to my tastes, but i see where he's going with his comparison and also, that koala is holding hands with that guy!
are you familiar with the basic outline of the story?
here are a few links to get you up to speed. i'll meet you back here.
* a general article with just the basics.
* the mom did an interview and some serious issues are coming up.
done reading?
okay, let's discuss this because i am freaking out a little bit about this...
i am totally pro-choice. i absolutely support a woman's right to choose what she wants or doesn't want to do with her body. abortion is a really sticky issue and not a thing i think anyone should take lightly. ideally, every single person would be totally aware of the fact that they could potentially create a new life EVERY TIME THEY HAVE SEX, because aside from abstinence, there are always improbable accidents with any method of birth control. yes, you will most likely not get pregnant if you are using responsible methods of birth control, but since it's a possibility, don't do it unless you're prepared to deal with the results, soberly and seriously, whatever those results are.
so, compassionate fascism is a pro-choice system, mostly because we don't need more people being brought into the world just because they've already been conceived. there are far, far, FAR more children than there are healthy families to raise them all. if we had a population shortage or something, i'd be willing to adjusting the birthing policy, but given the current state of the environment, pro-choice all the way, with some rules. for example, if you have beyond a certain number within a certain length of time, you must meet with a reproductive health counselor to talk about what the fuck is wrong with your birth control methods. if you're not using birth control, you'll be given a shot, since you can't be trusted to manage it yourself.
anyway... i digress.
this crazy octuplets lady.
you guys, she's a nightmare.
she used her disability payments to get fertility treatments.
she already had 6 kids, 3 of whom had special needs of some kind.
she had bizarre plastic surgery.
she says she's going back to school to get her degree and she'll support her kids with student loans.
the medical costs for her babies' delivery and continued care was submitted to medi-cal.
she's making me so mad.
and she brings up the point: should it really be a free country?
the entire idea behind compassionate fascism is this: most people aren't smart enough to make good decisions for themselves so they need to have those decisions made for them. like raising kids, you need to be firm, kind, loving and absolutely The Boss. so, the government is The Boss. to the extent that you are living a life where you're not hurting others, not making people's lives worse, you're contributing to society, you're given plenty of freedoms. the stuff that the government would take care of will be stuff no one really wants to pay for themselves anyway, like health care or education. (p.s. lawyers would all be public servants.) but if you prove yourself to be a dummy who can't make good decisions for yourself, and given the effect that one person's idiocy can have on other people around them (like an alcoholic's effect on a family), your freedoms will be diminished steadily to the point where all your decisions are made for you.
so, should this insane baby hoarder be allowed to make decisions for herself?
no.
no, she should not.
read about her and try to tell yourself her kids are NOT going to end up completely fucked because of what a crazy person she is.
it reminds me a lot of michael jackson and his kids. i really believe that michael jackson loves his kids. he's probably more like a kid than an adult, it seems, so he probably cares for them very, very deeply and really wants the best for them. but are we going to trust his judgment on what's best for him, given he named on blanket and another one prince michael?
compassionate fascism (or whatever we're calling it) says no, sir. we're taking your kids away. we don't need to see evidence of your kids being in an unhealthy, completely bizarre environment, because we have seen the pictures of you and them on the internet. compelling and persuasive evidence. so, mj, we're taking your kids away, where they'll be raised by normal people who will let them be seen in public and isn't suffering from from PTSD from being raised by a molesting monster show biz dad. you can totally spend time with them! but you don't get to raise them alone, away from any kind of scrutiny.
under compassionate fascism, this craziness with the octuplets would NEVER happen.
i'm really torn about fertility treatments already, given the afore-mentioned population problems. we don't need more people, even born into loving homes. why not raise one of the tons of great kids, all around the world, looking for homes?
i know that many, many women dream of giving birth and find it difficult once they get started, and i know that when the time comes for me and shannon to do baby-making, i would have a very hard time if i found out i couldn't get pregnant.
however, i wouldn't consider fertility treatments. if it doesn't happen, so be it. we'll adopt a chinese baby or something. (they're really popular in marin.)
part of the reason our population woes are so serious is that no one freakin' dies anymore. everyone is getting brain transplants and life support and fertility treatments and intensive care. we NEED the weakest members of the herd to be picked off by predators, so the herd as a whole can survive. you don't want the weakest, fattest, slowest, stupidest members of the herd reproducing because they'll just make more weak, slow, fat, stupid creatures. death is basically the most natural thing in the world, and compassionate fascism sees population control as one of the most important issues facing human kind, and we act accordingly. that means no long-term life support for people who are in vegetative states. no life support for babies that struggle after a certain point. organ transplants will be severely limited. we need an attitude that people die and that, while it's very, very sad, it's also the way things are.
so, nadya suleman would NEVER have gotten fertility treatments. ever. in fact, once she had three kids she'd need to submit to some serious psychological testing to be allowed to have another kid. sorry, compassionate fascism takes baby-making seriously and it's not for nutbar drains on the welfare system.
also, that quack doctor who implanted her with all those embryos would be in jail. seriously. jail for a doctor means treating inmates in prison, while you're in prison. no reason for all the knowledge to go to waste. being a doctor means you have great powers and with great power comes great responsibility and you, mr. quack doctor, are misusing your powers and you are a jerk and a criminal and negligent and you're going to jail to treat inmate's STDs.
and nadya, i'm sorry, but you're being sterilized. people who really love kids have a few and then run a day care center or become teachers. they do not have more and more and more like they're running their own human puppy mill. that's hoarding, you weirdo, and you have proven you are not sane enough to make your own decisions, so we're going to make the decisions for you. we're taking your babies, because you can't afford to raise them anyway, and we're taking the three kids who have special needs, because you're not giving them the care they need, i am sure of it. you can keep your three able-bodied kids, but you're being assigned a full-time government nanny, who will be monitoring for any signs of you messing them up, and we'll totally take them away if we have to.
under compassionate fascism, it's not really a free country because most people are too dumb to manage the freedoms available to them, so we'll handle stuff so you can just hang out and watch 'ow! my nuts!' or whatever reality television you prefer.
wow, that was pretty serious wasn't it?
maybe you should watch that little kid on pain killers again, to clear the palette?
how about reading what mark lisanti has to tell us about the bail out? the socket-humping wasn't to my tastes, but i see where he's going with his comparison and also, that koala is holding hands with that guy!
kids on drugs.
i can't get enough of this video.
seriously, i've watched it over and over and i am still not tired of it.
if i had ever done illicit drugs of any kind, which i certainly haven't because they are illegal, i imagine one might experience something like this while under the influence.
definitely one of my favorite things this week.
p.s. compassionate fascism believes in legalized drugs because the war on drugs is a dumb joke and stigmatizing something doesn't make it go away so let's just find a way to support people who are having trouble with it so they're safe.
p.p.s. for some reason i have never googled the phrase 'compassionate fascism.' i guess i just assumed that since i came up with it myself, somehow no one would ever have come up with it before me. not sure why i would have thought that, but i was shocked to see how many hits there are for it.
you guys, it's already a thing!
there is a band on myspace with that name!
(another post referred to 'enlightened imperialism' which is also a catchy name.)
but stil...
should i come up with a new name for my political system?
i don't want there to be confusion between MY version and someone else's version...
what do you think?
seriously, i've watched it over and over and i am still not tired of it.
if i had ever done illicit drugs of any kind, which i certainly haven't because they are illegal, i imagine one might experience something like this while under the influence.
definitely one of my favorite things this week.
p.s. compassionate fascism believes in legalized drugs because the war on drugs is a dumb joke and stigmatizing something doesn't make it go away so let's just find a way to support people who are having trouble with it so they're safe.
p.p.s. for some reason i have never googled the phrase 'compassionate fascism.' i guess i just assumed that since i came up with it myself, somehow no one would ever have come up with it before me. not sure why i would have thought that, but i was shocked to see how many hits there are for it.
you guys, it's already a thing!
there is a band on myspace with that name!
(another post referred to 'enlightened imperialism' which is also a catchy name.)
but stil...
should i come up with a new name for my political system?
i don't want there to be confusion between MY version and someone else's version...
what do you think?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
some thoughts on education and the future.
shannon and i talked through some ideas about the educational system under compassionate fascism.
the whole talk started with a discussion of the operating system used in a lot of computers in future movies. you might be familiar with the one i talking about. it's the one tony stark uses in 'ironman.' they use it in 'minority report' too. they also use it in 'vanilla sky.' the basic idea is that everything is controlled with your hands. 'ironman' has it floating in 3D space, and he's just poking stuff and tossing it around and talking to his super-computer. i was more impressed with the one in 'vanilla sky,' which was otherwise a totally weird, forgettable movie.
in that movie, the computer was a flat panel on tilda swinton's desk, and she was using it a lot like we use iphones. again with the poking and flinging and dragging, but with her hands.
that is some future technology that i think isn't far away, and i am stoked on ways it can be applied to schools and to business.
so, computers will be one panel, either propped up in front of you with perhaps a wireless, touch-sensitive mouse pad, or laying flat on the table in front of you. the entire thing will be a screen, like an iphone. the keyboard will hide or be shown as needed. you'll drag things manually from one place to another. you'll poke a file with your finger and drag it into the trash. easy as pie, right? i'm predicting this isn't far away. not next year but within the next 10 years, i think we'll probably see that.
students will have laptops that they are given when they arrive at school, probably from the youngest possible age. preschool kids will play shape and color games on them. they'll have writing recognition programs, so that you'll learn to write on them, too, using a stylus. all tests will be taken on them, and then sent to the teacher's computer, via wireless internet. no textbooks, because everything will be downloaded to the computers as needed.
bibliophiles, you'll still be able to buy real paper books. but we need to do something about the paper useage in books and people we don't need to be printing hundreds of thousands of copies of the newest diet fad book. save the trees for something that matters. like celebrity gossip magazines.
kids will take notes on their school laptops. they can have their own home laptops, but the ones for school will be mandatory. everyone will carry flash drives with them everywhere they go, in case they need to get some work from their school/work computer onto their home, or vice versa. lectures will be automatically recorded and made available to students. attendance to classes will be monitored by thumb scans at the doorways of classes. each professor will decide on their attendance policy.
all papers will be written on the laptops and, again, sent to the professor via wireless connection.
shannon and i had some disagreements about upgrades, like what will happen when it's time to get new computers.
i felt like the old school computers would be collected, expertly refurbished, and sold online, with proceeds going to the ministry of education. perhaps they could be refurbished by students in higher level computer engineering classes!
shannon brought up an interesting point. he suggested that products under compassionate fascism be built to last, like old american cars. there is no conceivable reason why people need to buy the newest model of computer every year when the majority of the really important changes are software and operating system changes. so why not have a body that is so simple but so reliable that there's really nothing to update for? what if it was built to be used for an entire lifetime? so a kid is assigned a school computer when they're in kindergarten and they use the same one for their entire educational careers, until they graduate. any new changes to the model will be because of significant advances, not something dumb like changing the sharp edges into rounded ones, or changing the body from black plastic to titanium alloy.
i like this idea. i like the idea of america making cars that are built to be passed on to your kids and your grandkids with pride. and not as a cool, expensive luxury, like many classic cars are now, but as heirlooms, with standardized parts that make it fixable by a wide array of people, not just people with the expensive computers for diagnostics and crap. to balance the need for consumer spending to fuel the economy with our government's firm commitment to sustainability in all industries, at every level, we would allow auto upgrades for each driver every 5 years, let's say. no changing before that. you certainly don't have to upgrade every five years, and in fact you're encouraged not to, but as long as you wait five years, you are allowed to buy trade for a new model. that being said, i think the the auto industry, and all consumer industries, will be strictly controlled in the amount of new products or new models of old products that they're allowed to put out. if the main change is blue fog lights instead of yellow, wait until you have some other, seriously important changes and then release something new. say, every ten years, the auto industry gets to release a brand new model. however, all subsequent models need to be adaptable to the older models, and new advances in car components need to take into account that most people will just be getting upgrades to their old cars, because as a society we frown on conspicuous consumption.
some other odds and ends:
1) all professions are paid the same amount. you can be given bonuses for good performance, but there are no professions that are guaranteed money-makers. likewise, there are no specializations in medicine that pay more or less. being in public health will pay the same as holistic nutrition. also there will be no plastic surgery allowed unless the situation is related to a medical problem, like a burn or something. no gastric by-passes, no lipo, no vaginal rejuvenation. doctors of these things, you're wasting the world's time and money. please devote yourself to something that actually benefits mankind, not helps it become more lazy and image-obsessed.
2) doctors don't get paid by their patients until they've either cured the problem, passed the patient along to a different practitioner, or made a measurable contribution to the curing of the ailment. there will be no repeated visits for issues that aren't ever solved, for which you, the patient, are expected to pay. not that it matters because we'll OBVIOUSLY have universal health care and the insurance industry will seem as quaint and bizarre as the idea of barbers as surgeons.
3) there are way more doctors, and each doctor has fewer patients. this will give them more time to devote to solving individual problems, instead of making the patient clamor for help to no avail. doctors will be trained to understand that curing illness is their only job, and to the extent that illness is not being cured on their watch, they're failing. this won't put pressure on doctors to solve difficult cases, and there will be unlimited resources available for consultations with other doctors, and trying experimental treatments, or collaborating with practitioners of other healing styles (e.g. chinese herbs, ayurveda (sp?)) what it will do is force them to keep their attention focused on a case for as long as it takes to resolve the problem, or create a long-term treatment plan. for debilitating, long-term cases, one doctor will be in charge of all aspects of treatment, coordinating with the various others.
4) everyone automatically has a chiropractor, a therapist, a dentist, a doctor and a massage therapist.
i have more thoughts but it's late and i need to go to bed, so i'll leave you with this question to ponder for next time's discussion: while considering the case of the nutbar who gave birth to octuplets, is there such a thing as a country that's too free? (obviously that fertility doctor is also crazy and should be retired and sent to work in an apiary or something. no more medicine for you.)
the whole talk started with a discussion of the operating system used in a lot of computers in future movies. you might be familiar with the one i talking about. it's the one tony stark uses in 'ironman.' they use it in 'minority report' too. they also use it in 'vanilla sky.' the basic idea is that everything is controlled with your hands. 'ironman' has it floating in 3D space, and he's just poking stuff and tossing it around and talking to his super-computer. i was more impressed with the one in 'vanilla sky,' which was otherwise a totally weird, forgettable movie.
in that movie, the computer was a flat panel on tilda swinton's desk, and she was using it a lot like we use iphones. again with the poking and flinging and dragging, but with her hands.
that is some future technology that i think isn't far away, and i am stoked on ways it can be applied to schools and to business.
so, computers will be one panel, either propped up in front of you with perhaps a wireless, touch-sensitive mouse pad, or laying flat on the table in front of you. the entire thing will be a screen, like an iphone. the keyboard will hide or be shown as needed. you'll drag things manually from one place to another. you'll poke a file with your finger and drag it into the trash. easy as pie, right? i'm predicting this isn't far away. not next year but within the next 10 years, i think we'll probably see that.
students will have laptops that they are given when they arrive at school, probably from the youngest possible age. preschool kids will play shape and color games on them. they'll have writing recognition programs, so that you'll learn to write on them, too, using a stylus. all tests will be taken on them, and then sent to the teacher's computer, via wireless internet. no textbooks, because everything will be downloaded to the computers as needed.
bibliophiles, you'll still be able to buy real paper books. but we need to do something about the paper useage in books and people we don't need to be printing hundreds of thousands of copies of the newest diet fad book. save the trees for something that matters. like celebrity gossip magazines.
kids will take notes on their school laptops. they can have their own home laptops, but the ones for school will be mandatory. everyone will carry flash drives with them everywhere they go, in case they need to get some work from their school/work computer onto their home, or vice versa. lectures will be automatically recorded and made available to students. attendance to classes will be monitored by thumb scans at the doorways of classes. each professor will decide on their attendance policy.
all papers will be written on the laptops and, again, sent to the professor via wireless connection.
shannon and i had some disagreements about upgrades, like what will happen when it's time to get new computers.
i felt like the old school computers would be collected, expertly refurbished, and sold online, with proceeds going to the ministry of education. perhaps they could be refurbished by students in higher level computer engineering classes!
shannon brought up an interesting point. he suggested that products under compassionate fascism be built to last, like old american cars. there is no conceivable reason why people need to buy the newest model of computer every year when the majority of the really important changes are software and operating system changes. so why not have a body that is so simple but so reliable that there's really nothing to update for? what if it was built to be used for an entire lifetime? so a kid is assigned a school computer when they're in kindergarten and they use the same one for their entire educational careers, until they graduate. any new changes to the model will be because of significant advances, not something dumb like changing the sharp edges into rounded ones, or changing the body from black plastic to titanium alloy.
i like this idea. i like the idea of america making cars that are built to be passed on to your kids and your grandkids with pride. and not as a cool, expensive luxury, like many classic cars are now, but as heirlooms, with standardized parts that make it fixable by a wide array of people, not just people with the expensive computers for diagnostics and crap. to balance the need for consumer spending to fuel the economy with our government's firm commitment to sustainability in all industries, at every level, we would allow auto upgrades for each driver every 5 years, let's say. no changing before that. you certainly don't have to upgrade every five years, and in fact you're encouraged not to, but as long as you wait five years, you are allowed to buy trade for a new model. that being said, i think the the auto industry, and all consumer industries, will be strictly controlled in the amount of new products or new models of old products that they're allowed to put out. if the main change is blue fog lights instead of yellow, wait until you have some other, seriously important changes and then release something new. say, every ten years, the auto industry gets to release a brand new model. however, all subsequent models need to be adaptable to the older models, and new advances in car components need to take into account that most people will just be getting upgrades to their old cars, because as a society we frown on conspicuous consumption.
some other odds and ends:
1) all professions are paid the same amount. you can be given bonuses for good performance, but there are no professions that are guaranteed money-makers. likewise, there are no specializations in medicine that pay more or less. being in public health will pay the same as holistic nutrition. also there will be no plastic surgery allowed unless the situation is related to a medical problem, like a burn or something. no gastric by-passes, no lipo, no vaginal rejuvenation. doctors of these things, you're wasting the world's time and money. please devote yourself to something that actually benefits mankind, not helps it become more lazy and image-obsessed.
2) doctors don't get paid by their patients until they've either cured the problem, passed the patient along to a different practitioner, or made a measurable contribution to the curing of the ailment. there will be no repeated visits for issues that aren't ever solved, for which you, the patient, are expected to pay. not that it matters because we'll OBVIOUSLY have universal health care and the insurance industry will seem as quaint and bizarre as the idea of barbers as surgeons.
3) there are way more doctors, and each doctor has fewer patients. this will give them more time to devote to solving individual problems, instead of making the patient clamor for help to no avail. doctors will be trained to understand that curing illness is their only job, and to the extent that illness is not being cured on their watch, they're failing. this won't put pressure on doctors to solve difficult cases, and there will be unlimited resources available for consultations with other doctors, and trying experimental treatments, or collaborating with practitioners of other healing styles (e.g. chinese herbs, ayurveda (sp?)) what it will do is force them to keep their attention focused on a case for as long as it takes to resolve the problem, or create a long-term treatment plan. for debilitating, long-term cases, one doctor will be in charge of all aspects of treatment, coordinating with the various others.
4) everyone automatically has a chiropractor, a therapist, a dentist, a doctor and a massage therapist.
i have more thoughts but it's late and i need to go to bed, so i'll leave you with this question to ponder for next time's discussion: while considering the case of the nutbar who gave birth to octuplets, is there such a thing as a country that's too free? (obviously that fertility doctor is also crazy and should be retired and sent to work in an apiary or something. no more medicine for you.)
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