We can't stop here, this is blog country!

How prepared are you?

How prepared are you for any eventuality? For example, if you could not find food when you were hungry, or water when you were thirsty. If you couldn’t just hop in your car and drive down the road because of gas shortages, what would you do?

Do you know what you would do if our infrastructure was in shambles due to a natural disaster, terrorist attack, pandemic, EMP (electromagnetic pulse), or even economic collapse? I ask this question to make you think. To think about what you would do if you were in that situation. Now I sincerely hope that our society will never wind up in that state during my lifetime. But what if it did?

I like to think that I am a smart enough guy that I would be able to figure out what to do in pretty much any situation. But I also have never faced anything so monumentally challenging as having to, say, hunt for my dinner. We, as a society, have been lucky over the past 100 or so years. And when I say society, I am of course referring to western society. I’m sure there are people in certain African countries that would do just fine if every single one of the world markets collapsed, because they do not rely on technology for virtually every aspect of their life. I, on the other hand, do. Hell, I am writing a blog entry right now on what I would do if the world went to shit!  

So what could you do to get better prepared? For starters you could take a wilderness survival course. They will teach you such necessarily skills as purifying water, how to build a fire, how to build shelter, how not to get lost, and how to track, trap and kill your food. I know the thought of eating squirrel or pigeon probably isn’t that appetizing, but neither is starving to death. Trust me on this, you will do what you have to do to survive. It’s human nature.

Most of us don’t live in the middle of a national forest (even though I did as a kid), so what could you do in an urban setting? Gardens are good, and depending on the climate and the soil, you can grow lots of fruits and vegetables. So no matter where you live, you could probably grow enough food to survive on.  But that takes quite a bit of planning and forethought, and you may have been taken by surprise by whatever crisis is happening.  You should also have on hand lots of canned food. Getting a hand-crank short-wave radio could also prove to be beneficial.  FEMA recommends that everyone have at least 3 weeks of food on hand, though most experts feel that 60 days of food is safer. How much food do you have in your house right now? If you’re like me, and I’m betting you are, you probably have nowhere near that much.

If you think back to when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened, I’m sure you remember all the countless people wandering around downtown Manhattan, looking for some kind of guidance on where to go or what to do. And the police didn’t really have a clue what to tell them, because they were just as unprepared for it as the citizens were. I am sure this will be happening all the time if our social structure ever becomes dysfunctional. So it is up to you and me to become better prepared. I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to be caught off guard if and when our society ever collapses.

 

 

The over-medicating of our society

Depressed? There’s a pill for that. Anxious? There’s a pill for that. Erectile dysfunction? There’s a pill for that too. We have become so dependent on these various medications to function, it’s a wonder we’re not all walking zombies. I speak from experience with some of these medications. I have taken more than I can probably even remember.

My initial foray into prescription medications came right after I graduated from high school. I went into my doctor’s office and told him it always felt like my heart wanted to beat out of my chest. He ran some tests and sent me on my way with a prescription for Xanax. In retrospect, starting that medication may have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Benzodiazepines are a class of drug that includes Xanax, Valium, Klonopin and probably at least 50 other medications. They work by calming the body down or sedating it. They are also often used as muscle relaxants, to treat seizures, for insomnia, and occasionally for alcohol withdrawal. And they are handed out like candy to people.

If doctors actually took the time to go over with their patients the dangers of these drugs, I’m convinced they would not be as popular as they are today. Or maybe they still would be. They make you feel invincible. I know that if someone had lectured me about the dangers of Xanax back when I was taking it, I probably would have just tuned them out.  Nobody ever did.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I am attempting to blame my poor choices on somebody else. It was my decision to start taking the drug, and I am the one who decided to swallow almost an entire bottle of pills a couple of years ago. But that’s the thing with these drugs. They cloud your judgment.  They also cause some pretty hardcore amnesia. Like forgetting how many pills you already took.

I will end this entry with the list of side-effects (many of which I have experienced) and reactions that can occur while taking these drugs. The most common side-effects of benzodiazepines are related to their sedating and muscle-relaxing action. They include drowsiness, dizziness, and decreased alertness and concentration. Lack of coordination may result in falls and injuries, especially in the elderly. Another result is impairment of driving skills and increased likelihood of road traffic accidents. Decreased libido and erection problems are a common side effect. Depression and disinhibition may emerge.  Less common side effects include nausea and changes in appetite, blurred vision, confusion, euphoria, depersonalization and nightmares.

Does that sound like something you would want to take? 

 

Exploring the cosmos

I have always loved the show Star Trek. I think it had something to do with their incredible vision of our future. Oh, and they also lived in outer space. And drove around in really cool spaceships. Since my teenage years when I was first discovering The Next Generation, space has always been a fascination of mine. And since we invested in the Hubble Space Telescope back in the early 1990’s, we have been treated to some incredible, mind-blowing photographs of the cosmos. One of my boards on pinterest is even devoted to just that. I wanted to share some of my favorite photographs with you today.

Some of the most stunning photographs I have ever seen are of nebulae. One of the most incredible photographs of nebulae I have ever come across would have to be this one, of inside the star-forming region known as the Eagle Nebula: 

The pillars of creation is actually situated inside this nebula:  

Another breathtaking nebula is the Crab Nebula, which is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus:

Still another kickass nebula is the Cone Nebula, which is an is an H II region in the constellation of Monoceros:

Had enough of nebulae? Oh, who am I kidding. If you're like me you can never get enough awesome photos of nebulae! But in the interest of keeping this blog entry under 20 pages, I will now move on to galaxies. NGC 1232 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus: 

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is the prototype nearby starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The starburst galaxy is five times as bright as the whole Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's center:

 And I will end with this incredible photo of the Dumbbell Nebula (I told you I really liked these things): 

And that now concludes astronomy 101, with your teacher Ian Casey. I hope you've enjoyed looking at these photographs as much as I have.

 

The circle of life

For the last couple of weeks there have been at least 2 lizards living in my house. And each time one of them finds his way in, he invariably scoots his way over to this artificial tree in my living room.

I was able to let one of them outside maybe a week ago. Today as I was waking up, I walked out of my room and almost stepped on a barely alive cockroach on the floor. Being the kindhearted person I am, I scooped him up on a paper towel and carried him outside. Then, right before my eyes, just as I set the bug down on the front porch, a lizard swooped in and ate him! Was this the same lizard that I rescued last week? I do not know. They all look the same to me. But how interesting would it be if it were? Here you have a lizard that I rescued from my house, eating another animal that I paid the same courtesy to. I think Elton John said it best in his song from The Lion King – it’s the circle of life.

 

 

Laws and sausage

So last night as I was getting ready to go to sleep, there was a fly buzzing around my room. I’m not sure what kind of fly it was, but it was some kind of flying insect. He buzzed right by my head, and I swatted him. He died. And then something happened. I felt bad about it. What right did I have to take this other living things life away from it? Sure, it was inside my house, but maybe it just came in accidentally, looking for food or something. Then I got to thinking how we really don’t care all that much for the creatures on our planet we feel are lesser beings than us - the insects, the mice and rats of the world. Hell, we use mice in all kinds of animal testing. We also use cats, dogs, and rabbits. Sure, I guess it’s a necessary evil, to live in a functioning society. 

I’m not entirely sure what the point of this blog entry is, I just know that killing other creatures for sport or fun is wrong.  Killing them for food is, of course, a different story. But I am reminded of a video I saw not too long ago that showed workers mutilating some pigs at a pig farm. The pigs were screaming out in terror as they were shocked with electricity, another was beaten to death with an iron bar. I am certain these same things happen all the time around the world at various farms. Is it really necessary to torture these poor animals before we kill them? It’s bad enough they are being bred and raised purely to be turned into our sausage and bacon, but it’s another altogether to do what these people did to them. You know the saying that you never want to see how your laws or your sausages are made? I think I just did.

I will leave you with one of the videos that really disturbed me: 

 

 

 

Some recent discoveries (thanks to Pinterest!)

Since I’ve been using Pinterest for the past couple of months, I have become exposed to so many amazing new photographers and artists that I never would have known about before. I wanted to take a few minutes today and share a couple of them with you.

The first person I would like you to check out is Cristina Otero. She is a (16 year old!) photographer who uses fruit to make some really amazing photographs. This is one of my favorite photos of hers: 

And here's another by Cristina Otero: 

Here's yet another from Cristina Otero:  

The next people I would encourage you to check out are the incredible pair of Sina Domino Collins/Marco Ribbe photography. They are great artists who do some truly amazing shots that don’t even look real half the time! Here is one of my favorites of theirs: 

Here's another by them: 

Here's one by her that kind of gives me an Underworld vibe: 

And yet another person I would like you to see is the graphic artist Cintia Gonzalves. This is one of my favorites by her: 

And here's another: 

The final person I would like you to check out today is illustrator Young Chun. Here is one of his that I really like (which someone on pinterest commented it reminds them of Lady Gaga):  

And here is another by Young Chun: 

And yeah, I know. I really like looking at women. What can I say? I am a straight guy with no girlfriend at the moment! But if you have any recommendations for some good male artists or photographers, I'm all ears. You can let me know in the comments section.

 

Things go better with bacon!

Burger King recently introduced a bacon sundae to its stores in Nashville. Yes, you read that right. A bacon sundae. What is with this fascination with putting bacon on everything? I will be the first to admit that, in the words of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction: “Bacon tastes good.” But do we really have to start infusing it into our ice cream now? Some things just shouldn’t go together.

Now, I have yet to taste this new abomination, so maybe I shouldn’t be judging Burger King so harshly. What the hell am I saying?! Of course I can be judging them! If they have the nerve to introduce something called a “bacon sundae” to a country that is already dangerously obese, the whole world should be judging us. It’s a simple fact that the worse people eat, the worse their health usually becomes. And the worse the health care costs become for the rest of us. A study this year found that, in the United States alone, 35.7 percent of the adult population and 16.9 percent of children qualify as obese.

But wait, there’s more! Pizza hut also recently introduced a hot dog stuffed crust pizza to its stores in the United Kingdom. Now, I used to live in the UK, and I know they are not anywhere near as fat a country as the US. Yet. If they keep eating things like hot dog stuffed crust pizza, they’ll start catching up to us in no time at all. Now, I don’t know what Burger King and Pizza Hut’s plans are for their aforementioned products. Perhaps they will never expand beyond the limited markets they’re in now. But for the sake of my sanity, and for the sake of the health of everyone in this country of ours, I am hoping and praying that they do not.

 

8RWXG5PYA573

Curing bloggers block

I love writing. I really do. But I often have difficulty picking a topic to write about. Once I do, the words usually start flowing rather quickly. It's just the getting started that I seem to be having difficulty with. Like on this entry, I picked a topic to write about, and now the words are coming. But that isn’t always the case. Though trying to find a couple more paragraphs about not being able to think of things to write about may be a bit difficult. I believe the technical term for what happens to me is probably “writer's block” or some variation of it. Blogger's block! I like that.

So, what could I do to cure this blogger's block? Well, I could go for a walk. Or take some photos outside. Or have sex. Oh crap, I don’t have a girlfriend. But if I were to become a world famous blogger, I bet I could get one rather easily. Women love writers, don’t they? If Hank Moody on the show Californication taught me anything, it’s that writers get laid. Or maybe that’s just because David Duchovny is really good looking. Or maybe a little of both? Probably a combination of the two. Anyway, I love writing. Is that long enough to be a decent blog entry? 

I am addicted to the internet!

Facebook, pinterest, twitter, myspace, linkedin. youtube, tumblr, 9gag, digg, google plus. Yup, I’m addicted to the internet! What makes the internet so damned addictive? Could be that we, as a free society, love wasting time whilst also having fun. And the internet is so much fun. You could spend years just digesting all of the porn on it! Love me some porn. Where was I? Oh right, internet addiction. I wonder if there is an internet junkies anonymous group out there? If there is, I should join. So should some of my friends. We could go to our meetings, laptops in hand, and just waste time together. Huh? Anonymous meetings are supposed to cure your addiction? Where’s the fun in that?

 Anyway, I just googled “why is the internet addictive” – and guess what? I stumbled upon (stumbleupon is another great site, by the way) a bunch of pages about something called “internet addiction disorder.” This is how Wikipedia defines internet addiction disorder (or IAD for short): “Internet addiction disorder (IAD), or, more broadly, Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use, is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life.^[1] These terms avoid the distracting and divisive term addiction and are not limited to any single cause.”

Yup. I guess I have that. 

 

 

The cost of war

 

Why does the U.S. insist on trying to spread democracy to places that obviously do not want it? Some cultures are obviously just not suited for that particular type of government. Now, I understand the rationale of our government. I really do. It’s that democratic nations tend not to go to war with each other. We also have this belief that democracy is the best form of government, when we’ve never really tried any others. But at some point you have to say to yourself, what is the point of trying to end tyranny throughout the world, by going to war with the countries you’re trying to help? The best case would turn out like Afghanistan, where only 1,794 Americans have died. But, at what cost to the Afghani people, infrastructure, and culture? Some estimates put the number of deaths of Afghani civilians in the hundreds of thousands. The worst part of this tragedy is that nobody really has a clue how many Afghani civilians have been murdered.

The other much more staggering number is the amount of Iraqi civilians who have been killed, all in the name of spreading democracy there. A website I found (http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html) puts the number of civilians dead there upwards of 900,000! Can anyone even tell me why we invaded that country in the first place? I know, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, and he gave no evidence that he destroyed them. But is that really worth the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its citizens? To say nothing of the American soldiers who have been sent to their deaths. Also, if Saddam had ever tried to attack us, he would have been obliterated. He knew that. We knew that. So why did we invade their country? If you guessed oil, I think you would be correct. Recent exploration has shown that Iraq has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Now, maybe George W. Bush actually helped to prevent a worldwide depression that would have resulted from 6-7 dollar a gallon gasoline. We will never know. I just cannot wait for the day when we start to care less for material things, and more for each other. It may never happen, but a guy can dream, can’t he?