Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
-La Bruyere
It really isn't all that profound, but I like it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Great Northern Railroad
Just one block north of where we live is the Burlington North Santa Fe Railway. It is the second largest railroad company currently in the United States. This is the rail line that was the Great Northern Railway, one of the largest and most influential lines in US history, connecting the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest from St Paul to Seattle. It became the Burlington Northern Railroad when the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and a few others merged. It then became the Burlington North Santa Fe when it merged with the Santa Fe Railroad 13 years ago.
The largest railroad company in the United States is Union Pacific, which has a railroad line just a few blocks south. This line close to our home was originally the famous Chicago and North Western Railway, which was purchased by Union Pacific 13 years ago.
Just a few blocks to the West is the Soo Line, which is the United States branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway to serve Chicago.
Trains are an essential part of the development and history of our country. I believe that they should also be considered as a more dependable and energy efficient method of transcontinental transportation as gas prices continue to rise. Europe uses a very efficient train system with trains that travel at speeds of 186 mph, and you don't loose all of the time on take off, landing, taxiing, travelling to 1 or 2 cities completely out of the way of the final destination, weather delays, and a multitude of other standard airplane delays. Just consider it.
The largest railroad company in the United States is Union Pacific, which has a railroad line just a few blocks south. This line close to our home was originally the famous Chicago and North Western Railway, which was purchased by Union Pacific 13 years ago.
Just a few blocks to the West is the Soo Line, which is the United States branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway to serve Chicago.
Trains are an essential part of the development and history of our country. I believe that they should also be considered as a more dependable and energy efficient method of transcontinental transportation as gas prices continue to rise. Europe uses a very efficient train system with trains that travel at speeds of 186 mph, and you don't loose all of the time on take off, landing, taxiing, travelling to 1 or 2 cities completely out of the way of the final destination, weather delays, and a multitude of other standard airplane delays. Just consider it.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Window To The Soul
He was a flashy young man; tight corn row hair, silk button up shirt, diamond ear ring, dress shoes resting on the dental chair. He was a little perturbed to have to remove his high tech blue tooth piece from his ear, but he had his Blackberry phone with loud hip hop ringer on loud enough so that the entire oral surgery clinic in the county hospital could hear in case a friend called.
Quite frequently in a different setting, where people pay for whatever medical care they receive, someone dressed much more modestly than this young man would compose himself, be respectful, and behave appropriately to the situation. When someone who pays for their own health care opens their mouth, the great majority of the time you see relatively clean and reasonably restored teeth, even if they cannot afford the latest cell phone or stylish clothing.
When this young man opens his mouth, the first impression you get is the overwhelming stench of rotten teeth and pus. Somehow, smell can travel faster than sight. Next you see teeth rotting down to the gums, with pus either surrounding the decayed teeth or exiting in a hole in the gums. You know that one of the motivating factors for all of the flash on the outside is to get women to intimately kiss inside that sewer, you know he is probably successful in this endeavor, you wonder. After she has been "awed" by the outside, can she not see through into the interior of this man when he simple opens his lips to give the first look into the inside. A window to his soul.
He most likely will not cooperate. You know that because he's not paying for you to fish the rotting teeth from his rancid gums. He therefore must be entitled to this care. He will most likely whine and thrash and moan; and if that wasn't enough, he will likely become angry with you because he is experiencing discomfort. Obviously, someone that is entitled to health care should be privileged enough to receive the magic kind, where nothing causes discomfort and narcotics fill the pockets while walking out the door. He may or may not be upset that in addition to being rid of the decayed teeth, he isn't getting the rest of his teeth fixed for free at this visit. After all, he doesn't have to pay for his care, so why shouldn't he be entitled to have all of his care whenever is most convenient for him. It certainly is not his fault that he neglected his mouth for years, refusing to seek treatment when he had pain and his teeth were falling apart. No, its societies fault for not arranging a limousine to pick him up at his doorstep, or for not providing a dentist to come to his house to fix him up.
Disclaimer: I do not mean to say that everyone who is on welfare is ungrateful, I am surprised by the sence of entitlement and how ungrateful many who are on welfare are.
Quite frequently in a different setting, where people pay for whatever medical care they receive, someone dressed much more modestly than this young man would compose himself, be respectful, and behave appropriately to the situation. When someone who pays for their own health care opens their mouth, the great majority of the time you see relatively clean and reasonably restored teeth, even if they cannot afford the latest cell phone or stylish clothing.
When this young man opens his mouth, the first impression you get is the overwhelming stench of rotten teeth and pus. Somehow, smell can travel faster than sight. Next you see teeth rotting down to the gums, with pus either surrounding the decayed teeth or exiting in a hole in the gums. You know that one of the motivating factors for all of the flash on the outside is to get women to intimately kiss inside that sewer, you know he is probably successful in this endeavor, you wonder. After she has been "awed" by the outside, can she not see through into the interior of this man when he simple opens his lips to give the first look into the inside. A window to his soul.
He most likely will not cooperate. You know that because he's not paying for you to fish the rotting teeth from his rancid gums. He therefore must be entitled to this care. He will most likely whine and thrash and moan; and if that wasn't enough, he will likely become angry with you because he is experiencing discomfort. Obviously, someone that is entitled to health care should be privileged enough to receive the magic kind, where nothing causes discomfort and narcotics fill the pockets while walking out the door. He may or may not be upset that in addition to being rid of the decayed teeth, he isn't getting the rest of his teeth fixed for free at this visit. After all, he doesn't have to pay for his care, so why shouldn't he be entitled to have all of his care whenever is most convenient for him. It certainly is not his fault that he neglected his mouth for years, refusing to seek treatment when he had pain and his teeth were falling apart. No, its societies fault for not arranging a limousine to pick him up at his doorstep, or for not providing a dentist to come to his house to fix him up.
Disclaimer: I do not mean to say that everyone who is on welfare is ungrateful, I am surprised by the sence of entitlement and how ungrateful many who are on welfare are.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Hannah Montana
So what is the big deal? Every 5 year old girl in the country is watching every move of the new pop-preteen-queen Hannah Montana. Why shouldn't my 5 year old girl watch too? After all, don't the shows promote good ethics and have a good moral in every show? It's not like the show is full of adult content, sexual humor and drugs.
It is a big deal for a couple of reasons.
Reason 1: It may not be adult content, but I believe that teenage content by today's standards is only subtly different than adult content. I have not seen enough to really know how this show approaches topics such as dating or having a boyfriend. The few glimpses that I have seen make it apparent that fashion, clothing, popularity and parties headline important themes of the show. Howbeit these are most likely not the only messages conveyed to the little girl audience, and that there may be very positive messages mingled in with these core themes, I am very weary of today's Disney Cooperation's motives when teaching little girls life's lessons. Disney's primary motivation for everything they do (like any other big business) is making money. They are already making a fortune on Hannah Montana products, including: clothing, jewellery, apparel and dolls. Keeping in mind the continued potential to generate revenue on these superficial items, I have watched the show and felt bombarded with some subtle and other not so subtle messages that relate a girls worth to her body, clothes, friends, and popularity. These are the same messages that are more blatantly broadcast through teenage magazines and adult shows that are obviously inappropriate for little girls; but they are taught with more subtlety and suggestion in a preteen show like Hannah Montana.
Reason 2: Miley Cyrus as an actor plays a sweet preteen girl who genuinely seems concerned with the welfare of those around her. As a preteen girl, I would be a little surprised if she wasn't a model citizen. It is not fair to take an innocent girl with as much popularity and fame as she has, and expect that she will not succumb to the tremendous worldly pressure to party and live today's standard of normalized promiscuity. Whether or not she eventually hits rock bottom like her predecessors such as Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, or she simply makes constant headlines of the many relationships, sensationalized or legitimate, that the entertainment media will capitalize on for their profit, it is certain that her teenage years will be far less wholesome than the ideals that her preteen show may suggest. Media pressure has already forced its ugly hand into convincing her that the provocative pictures she posed for in Vogue magazine were classy. I am concerned that Miley Cyrus, who is a pretty, smart, presumably wholesome girl, to whom millions of little girls idolize and emulate, will soon cause these little girl fans to become grossly desensitized to frank immorality when their role model becomes entangled in the typical Hollywood lifestyle. Anyone who believes that she will be above this lifestyle is fooling themselves, and risking some portion of the innocence of their little girls in a wager with odds stacked steeply against them.
Reason 3: Even if the show had no message that associated a girl's worth to popularity, fashion, body, ect., and even if Miley Cyrus became a model citizen, and showed she deserved the fanaticism of all of her little fans by leading a good and wholesome life, little girls ages 4 through 6 or 7 really shouldn't be obsessing about teenage topics. These little girls should be learning about little girl topics, boys should have cuties, universal worth for everyone in their preschool, kindergarten or first grade class should be thought of, they should be learning about the natural wonders of the world around them, learning how letters come together can make works, and understanding how the right words coming together create powerful messages that can enlighten or destroy. These messages are what little girls should be learning, and are available on TV programming, but are more powerful through a book, quality time with parents or friends, or even simple kid games. The shear quantity of time watching and obsessing about teenage topics at best becomes voided time when more pertinate education could not occur. At worst it is a destructive influence on little girl natural development.
Therefore, to answer the questions I initially proposed about Disney's Hannah Montana: Yes, I think it is a show that in some ways promotes good ethics and has good morals in each show, no, it does not have true adult content, and no, my 5 year old daughter will not be watching it.
It is a big deal for a couple of reasons.
Reason 1: It may not be adult content, but I believe that teenage content by today's standards is only subtly different than adult content. I have not seen enough to really know how this show approaches topics such as dating or having a boyfriend. The few glimpses that I have seen make it apparent that fashion, clothing, popularity and parties headline important themes of the show. Howbeit these are most likely not the only messages conveyed to the little girl audience, and that there may be very positive messages mingled in with these core themes, I am very weary of today's Disney Cooperation's motives when teaching little girls life's lessons. Disney's primary motivation for everything they do (like any other big business) is making money. They are already making a fortune on Hannah Montana products, including: clothing, jewellery, apparel and dolls. Keeping in mind the continued potential to generate revenue on these superficial items, I have watched the show and felt bombarded with some subtle and other not so subtle messages that relate a girls worth to her body, clothes, friends, and popularity. These are the same messages that are more blatantly broadcast through teenage magazines and adult shows that are obviously inappropriate for little girls; but they are taught with more subtlety and suggestion in a preteen show like Hannah Montana.
Reason 2: Miley Cyrus as an actor plays a sweet preteen girl who genuinely seems concerned with the welfare of those around her. As a preteen girl, I would be a little surprised if she wasn't a model citizen. It is not fair to take an innocent girl with as much popularity and fame as she has, and expect that she will not succumb to the tremendous worldly pressure to party and live today's standard of normalized promiscuity. Whether or not she eventually hits rock bottom like her predecessors such as Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, or she simply makes constant headlines of the many relationships, sensationalized or legitimate, that the entertainment media will capitalize on for their profit, it is certain that her teenage years will be far less wholesome than the ideals that her preteen show may suggest. Media pressure has already forced its ugly hand into convincing her that the provocative pictures she posed for in Vogue magazine were classy. I am concerned that Miley Cyrus, who is a pretty, smart, presumably wholesome girl, to whom millions of little girls idolize and emulate, will soon cause these little girl fans to become grossly desensitized to frank immorality when their role model becomes entangled in the typical Hollywood lifestyle. Anyone who believes that she will be above this lifestyle is fooling themselves, and risking some portion of the innocence of their little girls in a wager with odds stacked steeply against them.
Reason 3: Even if the show had no message that associated a girl's worth to popularity, fashion, body, ect., and even if Miley Cyrus became a model citizen, and showed she deserved the fanaticism of all of her little fans by leading a good and wholesome life, little girls ages 4 through 6 or 7 really shouldn't be obsessing about teenage topics. These little girls should be learning about little girl topics, boys should have cuties, universal worth for everyone in their preschool, kindergarten or first grade class should be thought of, they should be learning about the natural wonders of the world around them, learning how letters come together can make works, and understanding how the right words coming together create powerful messages that can enlighten or destroy. These messages are what little girls should be learning, and are available on TV programming, but are more powerful through a book, quality time with parents or friends, or even simple kid games. The shear quantity of time watching and obsessing about teenage topics at best becomes voided time when more pertinate education could not occur. At worst it is a destructive influence on little girl natural development.
Therefore, to answer the questions I initially proposed about Disney's Hannah Montana: Yes, I think it is a show that in some ways promotes good ethics and has good morals in each show, no, it does not have true adult content, and no, my 5 year old daughter will not be watching it.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Final Countdown
I divide my life into small segments; countdowns. I've just completed a 72 hour countdown to the beginning of the Jazz playoff run. I just finished a 4 day countdown to an experience I have not had in some time, a date with Erin. I need something exciting within a small segment to look forward to for motivation. I cannot tolerate living by deadlines. If my thoughts forward can only find the next test, bill, presentation or chore, then the repetitive and non motivational cycle of the next test, bill, presentation or chore takes the zest out of life.
I try to avoid setting my sights too far ahead. I takes a pretty large event for me to look forward farther than 1 or 2 weeks. Traveling to Germany with my dad and brothers to watch the USA play in the world cup was a 6 month segment of life I cannot recall except for the obsession. June 26, 1999 was not a small segment of anticipation. Life for me moves a little to slow at long intervals. So why are these words along side a countdown that is well over 1000 days. I don't know, but I look at that countdown every day.
I try to avoid setting my sights too far ahead. I takes a pretty large event for me to look forward farther than 1 or 2 weeks. Traveling to Germany with my dad and brothers to watch the USA play in the world cup was a 6 month segment of life I cannot recall except for the obsession. June 26, 1999 was not a small segment of anticipation. Life for me moves a little to slow at long intervals. So why are these words along side a countdown that is well over 1000 days. I don't know, but I look at that countdown every day.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Time
You know how your up kind of late, your online, and you get to that point where you go to type in another web address only to realize that you've hit all your regular sites and your just procrastinating going to bed. Maybe you don't. This blog is what happened when I ran out of my usual sites and I didn't want to go to bed. I appologize to anyone in advance who reads anything that I write. Its not like I generally have a lot of time at night when I would rather be typing than sleeping. I'm going to bed now.
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