"Owner's" Decisions

He looked out onto the field of the West Virginia Associates Stadium. A play had just ended and one of the athletes was writhing in agony. He could tell the player was in pain all the way from the "colored" owners box. A chime came through on the two-way communicator. He picked up the receiver, "Yes? Remove him from the field, take him to the locker room and scan it to be sure. Then proceed with reconstruction. He should be back on the field for the next period." A "Yes sir." Was heard on the other end. He watched as the coach had some staff members carry the athelete off the field to the "colored" locker room.

Runpass was a brutal game and for some time the Confederate Runpass Association only allowed whites to play. The game became lackluster and stale so the team owners thought it would be a good idea to allow a black team to compete to raise interest and revenue. They also saw nothing wrong with the chance to rough up some colored folks as well. The blacks complied and OI presented a group of athletes to compete and they did well. So much so that some of the confederate states wouldn't allow the blacks to play out of fear that there would be an uproar and violence would commence. The state of West Virginia among a few others was courageous and held many a game for black and white competition.

The communicator rang again, "Sir his achelles tendon is torn."
"Ok, get him into the tube right away and concentrate all regenerative tissue to that area, he'll be back on the field in no time." Another "Yes sir" could be heard over the comminicator.

Ever since the slave population and the Confederacy split, each territory had it's own reconstruction. The Confederacy kept rolling along reuniting all of their states, and the Black Territory became a fortress within its own right. In the Black Territory an organization rose as the leading and agreed conscious of the freed people. When the war first ended it was very difficult for both sides. At some points there was much vitriol. Some states stayed white exclusive while some others just segregated. Blacks were not allowed to stay after dark, but they could conduct business in these states. West Virginia was one of them.

As for Runpass. It was a game played with an oblong ball on a 100 yard field. The goal was to score by reaching the opponents goal zone with the ball in hand and the team that reached the goal zone the most times won the game. One side drove towards the goal zone while the opposing side defended it and each team's side had a full hour to post the most scores. Each team had four sets to score and if you gained 10 yards within a set you got to start the set from one again.

There was a knock at the door of the owners box, and he answered the door. There was a white man  standing in the doorway, "Now let thatbe a lesson to you if you think y'alls players are gonna run all over my team." His southern drawl was entertaining. The tall black man looked back at him sharply and replied, "May the best team win." And he smiled. The white man turned red and stormed away. The OI board would be pleased to hear of the standing of their Runpass team. They were working on their second championship in four years since they were asked to join. The Territory felt this was an acceptable distraction.

He picked his receiver up and a connection picked up on the other side. "Sir?"
"Done?"
"Yes, he'll be playing after halftime."
"Great, let's show these guys how to win a championship at their own game." He looked back out at the field from the "colored" owners box. The bare white walls bore down on him, but winning makes things bearable. He smiled as the OI Athletics jogged back on the field, previously injured player included. Then he sat down, grabbed his notebook to keep records and watched the game.

Well hello...

I haven't posted in so long, but so much has changed. Murried and a baby on the way: ah, the joys of the present human experience. I couldn't be more happy...and intrigued about where life will take me next.

We will see. Stay tuned.

The Human Being

Who are we? What are we doing to ourselves? Why are some of our priorities mixed up? Do we really care for one another or are we just trying to "look good" because that is what our culture and society tells us is the most important. Where did these rules we see today come from? What exactly is money and why is it so important to some humans, but not important to others? What is control and is it really worth seeking and attaining? Have we lost sight of what is really going on on this planet and our place on it. Are we really about "protecting our environment" or is it just something that we do so when we go home at night and lay our head down we feel good about ourselves? Do we really think about our affect on our environment? Why do we allow ourselves to be distracted so easily? Back to the rules: who really makes up the rules? When they are made, is it really about liberty and freedom? Why do I hear these words so much in my "country of residence" but not see true freedom? What makes us different from other countries altogether now that I think about it? Is it differing histories? Is it different values? What makes our values better than say, Chinese values, or Russian values? Or are we really more similar than we want to admit? Is all that really separates from ourselves language, or history? Maybe. But there is one thing that we constantly look over that is always evident. A lot of what we allow to separate us is made up. It's fake. Engineered by a civilization that operates better when people are divided. Is there really much difference between myself and a Saudi Arabian...we both have to swing our arms when we walk.

But these fake separations are engrained in us. It's hard to realize that there are no real lines on a map. There are no real borders on this planet. From the space station you cant tell where some states and countries begin and others end because it's all fake. Separations, borders, land ownership. How does someone own land. Of course there is a deeds, papers, legal documents, court orders that order other human beings to imaginarily recognize that there is a fake line that marks that these borders belong to this person, or this group of people. But it is still made up.

I write this because I read a story about case where an individual is trying to be describe as negative because they are pictured possessing a substance that is "illegal" in this border and holding his hand in such a way that symbolizes a perceived negative statement. But the problem is, while this substance and this symbol is perceived as negative here, in other places around the world, this substance and symbol are perceived as harmless.

I call bullshit on everybody that empowers this madness...including myself. What have we convinced ourselves to accept as normal? What more will be sold to us as normal in the future?

I Don't Need No Stinkin Controller

So I turned on the radio and the show that came on was in the middle of an interview. To my interest the subject of video games came up. To paint a better picture, it was an older woman who was discussing the video games with an older man interviewer. It got really interesting when she started to explain the subject matter of a particular game: "Do you know that in certain games you can buy a prostitute, get her into the car, they have sex, and then he gets out and kills her to take the money back? That is what our young people are doing nowadays, that's why they're so violent." The interviewer first reacted like that was something he'd never heard of, then started agreeing with her the whole way. It got really good when one of them said: "Do you remember the games we used to play?"...

At that point I had to chuckle a bit. Then I started thinking...as a product of the video game evolution...I could not agree more. Young people shouldn't be playing these kinds of games. Then I thought a little harder and I said to myself, I've got it, we should come up with some kind of rating system...wait, damn someone stole my idea...a decade ago. The question isn't whether or not they should be playing, because they shouldn't. I've seen the studies. The question is how they get them...

I'll come back to that point in a moment. I am a responsible adult. I don't play games and let them get me super aggressive. I am a gamer. That means that I play games to play them. The beat them. To figure them out. I like good graphics, good gameplay, and a great story, and if I happen to be able to drive through a city and drop granades behind me and blow up people and cars, that just gives the game extra points, and that makes the game more entertaining. That is what everyone wants to a certain degree, but that is a conversation for another time.

Now back to the point...I can only suspect, but when you visit a video game retailer that happens to be near a high school on the day of a game's release and it is sold out by round 4:30, you can only suspect that some older rated games are getting into younger hands...I'm just saying. The point being, don't blame the games. There are people who enjoy some of these games you would question, and it would really suck if some of you folks messed with with us getting our hands on them somehow. Get on the companies who sell higher-age rated games to younger folks, and if you know someone who is exposing young minds to our favorite but racy games, tell them to think twice about starting it up while younger minds are present.







She never's mad, she never fights. She'll stay up with you all night. She's on when you are ready, she's off when you don't want her, She's got curves and she'll work your thumbs All the sports you like, or stories that can keep you up at night. It's been groovy :)

A late post for the new year

How do y'all do? I hope the new year is treating you all nicely so far. Everything on my end is just fine. I could say things like, "I'm gonna be on the ball with these posts this year," or "I've got some great ideas coming down the pipe." I kind of do, but for now I got nothing, so bear with me. I just want whatever I write to have some substance and really be thought provoking...stay tuned

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?

Out of balance?

I look around and I observe what is going on. Some of the things that I observe, with respect to what I'm discussing, are greed, over-indulgence, obesity, addiction, fundamentalism, and ignorance just to name some. And the question that comes to mind is...why?

I say why because, we have reminders everywhere that enlighten us to the fact that things are not supposed to be that way. What am I talking about you ask? Well here think about this: there are reminders of balance everywhere that we look. Nature tells us that balance is a unforgettable part of existence. For instance physics tells us that every action has an equal but opposite reaction. Chemistry tells us that an equation is not completed until both sides of the chemical reaction are balanced. Mathematics also tells us that each side of each mathematical equation must be balanced before we are done solving for the variable. The waves that we perceive everyday are products of balance as well for there could not be a crest without a valley. Another example, and I'm sure you've seen it, is the yen and the yang. Even the "scales of justice" are supposed to be balanced.

But sadly, this is not the life that the human being seeks. We consume and don't think about how much we consume, or where the products come from, or even where they go when we throw them away. We cut down trees, which are the lungs of the planet and complete the CO2 cycle (that should be a clear example, trees breathe in what we breathe out and vice versa). Even the civilizations before us knew that you were to use as much of what you were using as possible and you honored the earth that way.

Now I'm not saying that we should all be tree huggers and vegetarians, because I like my steaks just as much as the next guy, but I think it would do well for us to come to the understanding that the way life is, is not the way it is supposed to be. Why is society digressing instead of progressing; is it really supposed to be that way? And maybe when we accept the fact that we're being screwed from all sides, we will be able to start working, at least to turn ourselves in the direction that we need to go.

A True Constant

It's weird using a blog, because you start to wonder should I write this on the web or should I put it in my notebook. The way I see it, the two are not interchangeable. Some things I put in my book will probably never make it too the web simply because the web isn't worthy...kidding. In actuality it's more like somethings that come out of my mind are better when they are just for my personal growth and not necessarily for people outside of myself, but if I find something that would be beneficial, why not share it with the world. Besides, not everyone will read it, and not everyone will absorb it, and those that do read will analyze then weigh it to see if it fits their philosophical operation or not.

All that being said, I seem to have a knack for finding employment that is very much interesting, and I always use my employment as a way to learn something or gain a new observation (I think that should be the goal for anything, there's always a new perspective to gain). But I have had the good fortune to be able to watch people. They bob about from their office buildings to the places where they eat lunch. And they have to eat their lunches within a required time frame (gotta be back to work within the lunch hour). But it makes me ask, "How oblivious are these people? What would happen if there was an event that changed everything? How open would they be to change?" I've heard it before, and maybe you have to, that humans are creatures of habit. We settle into our little patterns and that's how we like things to stay, and when something changes or threatens to change that pattern somebody has got to answer.And I remember coming across a quote: "It is not the strongest nor the fastest that survive, but the ones most adaptable to change."

How willing would we be to change what we think is the best life that there is to offer. Better yet, how open are we to accept that this is not the best life that there is to offer. I think people know that, deep down, but the question I want to ask is how willing are we to accept that that is the case. The fact of the matter is, things aren't going to stay the same and they shouldn't.

We also can't go back to the "simplicity" of the "good-ole-days". I think it's time we embrace our evolution and come to grips with the fact that the only thing that is and can ever be constant is change. Then maybe we can get to work really making things better.

A thought...

On a planet that is the result of what happens when things occur the way they do, I am glad to be here existing against the odds. I am the expression of the universe trying to figure itself out through objective/subjective experience/consciousness. It's an extraordinary honor to be able to have said that I lived, when there are so many others that could have, but didn't. I am glad to be...peace and love.

Cologne and Classical Music

I don't subscribe to horoscopes. I don't fit in boxes. I can't be described. I purposely don't do things the right way, sometimes I don't do them at all. I don't grasp laws. I don't judge...because when it comes down to it, who am I to do so. I do work. I pay the toll to exist in society, although sometimes I don't see what the point is, especially when society is terribly confused. I wear a watch, but I'm not always on time...who decided that we have to live by the clock anyways?

What I do do (*chuckle* doo-doo), is exist. I was born, I grew up and I exist. I constantly perceive the world around me. Sometimes I'm impressed, often times I'm not...especially when I find myself observing my fellow human beings. I don't watch the news, I don't really watch tv, for it can be the source of much frustration, fear, dismay, fright, anger (I could go on, but you can fill in the blanks). But when I do watch tv it's mostly just for the cartoons and comedies. I definitely don't watch the news (especially when they started using TMZ in some of their segments); is that really part of the "news"?

I don't subscribe to the stardoms and fanfare, e.g.: the royal wedding...really...really?

I sometimes wonder when I look around at everything, is this the best that we can do? For us to be fallen angels, or god's creations, you'd think we'd hold ourselves and each other to better standards, but who am I to say. In my eyes we are all primates, trying to figure it out. Some of us think we control things. We think that with all of our money and shares in the market, we are better than others but in reality, those people are the same as everyone else...organisms in an environment, just trying to live (I think I've heard or seen that somewhere before).

It's amazing though. Sometimes something comes across my perceptive field that makes a new neural connection. It could be a new solar system that scientists have found, or a discovery about the way that something works, like fire. Do you have any idea what fire is on the molecular level? Ponder it, think about it, concentrate on it, or just google it...you may be surprised with the results. Or maybe you won't be. But when I think about the beauty that goes on, that is hidden from the human eye, it makes me cower in prostration (I think that word fits there). It will make you want to behold nature in all it's gloriousness. I will be forever impressed.

But in the meantime, all I can do is exist. I let the curiosity of just wanting to know what's next fuel me to keep existing. To keep perceiving, and most importantly (at least to me), to keep learning, because that's what it's all about...isn't it?

Rambling

I once thought that I thought too much, then I realized I was only thinking about what I was thinking about so I could figure out what I know that I know :)