Detectives

Are we nothing but investigators? Following the trails of clues left by our ancestors, predecessors, and nature itself. But as of lately we have gone off the trail. Clues left have gone cold and are waiting for us to pick the trail back up...Detectives, still confused, but not as much as we were when we first started our journey. Still swirling on and bound to the proximity of this planet. So far we have only tipped the iceberg of knowledge, and all we must do is stop fighting with ourselves and come to the understanding that as much as we resist, we are all in this together. An environment of separation is encouraged for humanity.. Those who stand in positions of leverage keep those unaware at bay by continuing to divide us, and make us divide ourselves. But humanity is one and should start to conduct itself as such. And until we do, the divisive agenda is sure to doom us to destroying ourselves.

A Mind Squirt

"Culture is the product of the unperturbed human mind. The human mind, unperturbed, through the medium of language, erects institutions and social structures into which it then secretes itself and sort-of lives in a private Idaho." -Terence McKenna

The Lottery of Life

I recently attended a lecture at the Carnegie Science Institute. It was a lecture about astrobiology, which is essentially the study of life on other planets in outer space.The "life on other planets" concept has been pondered by the human race probably since our ability to be aware of the stars has been present. Every time we look up at the sky into space, there's almost always a wondering of whether it is just us; but as it seems there's a good chance that it may not just be us.

In our galaxy there are millions of other stars that could fit the description of our sun. And that is just one galaxy out of hundreds of millions in outer space. All across the universe there are billions of other stars with planets that are very much like ours. Scientists use a doppler method to discover what size planets are orbiting a star, or they use a light reduction measurement method to detect the size of some planets passing over their sun. Think of it like this: when you observe a star, it's orbiting planets pass over it, the light that the star gives off decreases, and the amount of which it decreases yields the size of the planet passing over it.

Additionally, while observing these stars and planets, scientist's have made monumental discoveries such as the fact that the needed elements to build life are already out there in the cosmos. It has been observed that many nebulae in outer space have complex hydro-carbons, which are the building blocks for life. And not only that, but those same hydro-carbons are incorporated in the 30,000 tons of cosmic dust that falls to earth every year. So if we're getting sprinkled on our home planet, its a safe bet that many other planets in our universe are getting the same showering.

But then to make matters more interesting scientists also have traveled the far and wide to test some of the most extreme environments for life. Guess what they found? They found that from the coldest extremes in Antarctica, to the hottest steam beds in the deep ocean, to some of the deepest mines dug by us were inhabited by microbial life. The same microbial life that hails from our single-celled ancestors that inhabited this planet for 3 billion years before becoming complex.

So let's add it all up. Life is able to thrive in the harshest conditions. There are still debates going on now about methane that is concentrated in certain areas on our distant neighbor Mars. Are these methane concentrations due to microbial life by-products? The debate goes on. But one thing seems certain as these scientists continue to find planets in perfect positions from their suns (this makes it so water can remain mostly in liquid form), the odds of us being alone in our universe drops drastically. We start to find that life will thrive even in the most extreme conditions (ever seen grass grow through concrete).

It was shared that there are space exploration organizations that are continually broadcasting a signal to outer space with "I Love Lucy" re-runs on the band. What would we do if we received an incoming communication of a re-run of some crazy program from another planet? We'd better figure out how we're going to respond, because the odds are, you can bet we could.

Robert J. Childs
Information Agent
Observer Industries

Humans...

I came up with this after a little people watching:

What is this, "swinging your arms as you walk," thing? It's weird...under certain observational condition, it is one of the most interesting things you can see. People walking around, swinging their arms to and fro. You can be happy (and swing them merrily), you could be angry (and swing them furiously), you can be bored (and they swing sadly), but they all swing. Sometimes we notice and sometimes we don't. Humans: becoming increasingly interesting...no wait, nature: becoming increasingly interesting with more observation/perception.

AA+

question...

who's going to consume after the consumers lose all of which they consume with?

Thought provoking ideas

I was having a conversation with one of my close friends, and a few things were discussed. I think a couple of those are worth sharing with the blogosphere, so dig these questions and tell me what you think:

1. Why hasn't there been an insurance company that actually cares about the people that support it? Would it not be good business that if a person has been keeping up with their insurance payments and has no accidents at the end of the year, they should get some sort of stipend?

2. In order to get more parents to become involved in helping their children in school, should not parents whose children are exceling in school should get a stipend for their children performing well?

It's just a couple questions. If you come by the page don't just leave and not say anything. I want to know what you think. Personally I think that the insurance systems nowadays are glorified scams, but hey...this ain't about me. Let me know what you think...

Societal Ills

The more I observe my external world and more specifically the society in which I participate the less I buy into the ideas that society holds as its standards. And I've probably written about this before, but I seem to keep coming back around to this discussion with myself. I take note of what our society holds as successes and things to strive for, and aside from being unimpressed I'm mostly just disappointed that it cannot be better.

We are participants in a system that bombards you with endless consumption in a finite world. I see advertisements cleverly aimed at making the human feel that a certain product can make you feel a certain way and you won't be the person that you want to be unless you own that product. I see a system that rewards flashing lights and glittery objects instead of encouraging self development and critical thought. I see a system loaded with contradictions, and an expectation to accept whatever is plopped in front of us. And each time I notice a flaw, or one of those contradictions I lose a little more faith and laugh a little bit harder.

I laugh because that is the only reaction that won't depress me. It would be easy to look at things and be sad because for the most part it is a sad world. For instance there are people hungry all over the world, but there's a show on the tv box and its main point is to see how much food can be eaten in the least amount of time. On this same tv box there are "judges" who get paid millions of dollars to deliberate cases, but the teachers that taught them how to read those cases earn only a percentage of what they make. I see the government, that I pay my taxes to, not just start wars in which I have no say but also funding both sides of the war.

And this same society wants to dictate to me how it is acceptable to dress, talk and act...why do I have to break my neck to be at a specific place, almost daily, at a certain point during the earth's rotation (time)? Why is it that wearing certain garments are acceptable in certain places and without these garments I won't be accepted to do the work I would need to do to live?

Civilization...at this point it is almost a monument to itself, with all of the buildings and businesses that we have built. The technology that we have raised and the discoveries about ourselves and our universe that we have made, while still up for debate (because I think past civilizations were aware of somethings that we have lost), show the leaps and bounds of human thinking. But somewhere along the way, I think that we started taking ourselves too seriously. We lost the essence of our nature and traded it in for what?

"They tell me I need a 9 to 5, I need to trade my jeans in for some slacks and my t-shirt for a suit jacket. They tell me I need to buy a car and get a mortgage. But why would I trade in all that makes me happy for a chance to clock-watch and wait for the weekends. I don't know about you, but I live for now. The future will happen when now comes, so the best that you can do is live, let it happen and enjoy it. Most of all, don't let the society around you dictate what is good for you. Stop being a human doing, and be a human just being."

Why Isn't Poison Ivy Illegal?

I was having a conversation with my brother in our back yard and as we were talking I was noticing the plant life that was creeping up our handrail. I had noted that a couple weeks ago I had pulled a lot off revealing about half of the rail, and here we were about two weeks later and it had already crept back up the full length again. I started going on and on about how if I had a weed whacker I would be able to take it all the way down and so on. But just that idea of me trying to control that plant life made me re-assess what I thought about control.
 
We as humans have a silly way to try to be in control of things, but in reality we have no more control over things than the earth has control of the sun. For instance, we thought we were in control when we were drilling for oil, until it started spilling for like three months straight. That event to me should be enough to wake people up to the fact that even those that have the money, power and commodities don't know what they are doing. We try to control nature, even though nature strong-arms us all the time (ever seen grass come up through concrete...that's nature giving us the finger). We try to control other animals (ask Siegfried and Roy how that went). We even try to control other humans, but we do a good job there (ever sat at a red light at three in the morning till it turned green?).

And with all these silly rules and processes that we implicate, I think that we lose some of the humanity, which for example is how you get cops who will follow a process instead of using common sense that could be telling you that there is a better way to do something. But as I get older and observe more, as I make new connections, and remember more, I start to find that I'm not buying the bulls#@t that society is trying to sell me. This is in regards to society dictating what "success" is, or what we have to look like or even sound like. Or how society thinks you should be educated, which is bull because you are exchanging goo-gobs of money for a piece of paper, and you aren't even guaranteed that you'll make the money that you spent, back.

Sot the question that I have is...What if you don't want to participate anymore? I know some of you are thinking, but you have to. You live on American soil. You are enjoying the freedoms of being here. Ok, well first, it's just soil, not American soil. I do believe that there were indigenous people here that populated the area  before settlers "discovered" this land. And B, we are all participating in a society propped up by lies anyway. I think I have just come to the point that I'm tired of being deceived. I think that there should be some sort of "opt out" option. Simply because I think that I and a great majority of other humans would be more productive if instead of being an American, or black, or democrat, I was considered a human first.

Question to anyone that reads this post.

I want to see what you all think. A great question from a great question asker (if there is such a thing). What is the good life?