Carbon footprint..?!
Okay- it's been around for a while.
I suppose there'll be those who'll say "Welcome to the party, Russ- glad you could join us!"
And yet, others that may be waiting with baited breath [pro and con] to jump at my rhetorical juggler vein just panting at what my next words will be.
I suppose in some ways I'll disappoint at one level and inspire or say nothing that hasn't already been said at the other.
I think 'global warming' is pure BS.
Oh, I can site my examples of researched study [not my own- The Good Lord knows what a bonehead I'd be as a scientist] and for every example sited there would be contrapuntal evidence against and then repartee'd with yet more examples of either side of this fulcrum called "Global Warming".
Al Gore got his Nobel for having made his junk science a reality to the world court- excellent.
And I mean "excellent" in all it's manner befitting a Nobel winner- I mean it with all humility and not even a speck of degradation or mock.
But where people may not understand the dichotomy of acquiescence to Al Gore and yet call his "research" "buffalo plop", let me also harbor this notion...
I also appreciate the Darwin Awards.
What do these two items have in even remote commonality to one another- ah! That's where the mind of the astute common-sensor comes to light!
The Darwin Awards are often bereft of old wives tales and mythological "facts" concerning some hapless buttcrumb who's managed to keep himself from rutting and infecting an already plagued gene pool based on the most eviscerating or heinous death imaginable. As I just mentioned- the DA's are often plagued with falsities and disproven myths.
The Nobel Peace Prize for Global Warming is no more "factual" than the Darwin Awards.
All the spouting and frothing and gnashing of teeth- whether at a 'green event' or some half baked hash induced rock concert where Gore makes his appearance having flown in on his "rented jet" reminds me of the "Diastase" character in AKIRA.
Both are archetypes of one another, both spouting words of imminent destruction through a gleeful grimaced smile as if resigned to their fate and more than willing to bring as many with him as possible.
Where the two analogies/similarities end is that at least in the film AKIRA, the police don their riot gear and start pelting the myopic mobs with teargas canisters [the one-shot of an armed riot officer popping a round of CS right into the chest of a hacking/coughing bystander gives me certain amounts of smirk-some glee if one imagines Al taking the shot in the gut...]
The facts are there- one side says we're doomed in the next 20 years the other says we need to sit back and breath a little bit and stop ourselves short of hysteria. Where both sides say they're using science as their motivator to their viewpoint- one does so to presume that there is a status quo- the other does so in hopes of a magnanimous return to utopia by way of human cleansing and an equally human method of resolution.
That- dear readers is the outline of a religion; oh, surely a man-based faith, mind you- but a religion none-the-less.
So, whether the earth ends some time around noon in the next 12 years or I continue along in my "educated idiot" method of plodding, I'll continue to be;
Russ
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The Definition of Madness
We all know that rather old idiom about "madness", right?
If not- it goes like this:
"The definition of 'madness' is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each and every time..."
I'm roughly 8 hours into the New Year, this '08.
Actually, I woke up to the sounds of fireworks, shouts of "Happy New Year" and my going-on-two year old's night-fright shrieks so the New Year and I are already acquainted. "Madness" in the sense of the idiom we're discussing is already a well embedded psychological trait- being a parent pretty much saw to that 6 years ago.
Still; stepping into this new year I had a chance to ponder this particular entry and what I'd say.
To be honest I hate the concept of "New Year's Resolutions". It's BS. Why would a person choose to wait for anything that would in effect help to better themselves?
Why wait to quit smoking?
Why wait to cut back on sweets?
Why wait to start even a daily five push-up ritual?
Anything that improves a person should wait for no man- even if that man is himself.
To me, a resolution is not a commitment- it's simply an affirmation to "give it the old college try".
Last time I checked- I never really "tried" all that hard in college- I was no gazelle when it came to the grades- but I knew how to "F" off and still pass with a better than average grade at the end of the semester. A "college try" is slightly better than the combination of a Kevin Smith movie slacker and a Revenge of the Nerds aptitude watching as your grade is determined by the actions of the student and the whims of an indoctrinated and entrenched Secular Progressive professor.
What this world needs is more promises. Real promises.
When I say promises- I'm talking about those types of promises that border on sepuku induced, honor crushing commitments to success if one fails. The world is so full of half-assed commitments it's little wonder we don't count the population by 1/2 as much.
Personally, my promises to myself and to this world will have to be for another time. I take my commitments seriously enough that I make no lists, make no affirmations and I most certainly will have success at them regardless how easy or hard.
For me, a purpose driven life means rewarding my family, my world and then myself- even if that self reward is nothing more than silent pride in a job well done: Increased self-actualization a strident goal that may or may not be complete at the end of my days.
If there's one thing I may state for you, dear readers- if one is just dying for something philosophical from 'Dear Russ'- so here's a 'hard one' from me.
I'll commit to letting go of those things that hold me back.
Letting go... Sounds so infantile in its simplicity- right?
Try this on for size...
And only once the commitment is made does one realize that the journey itself may in fact be the only possession- an intangible thing that becomes a reward/relic to the spirit. Something both my Grandfather and my Father-in-Law had shown me in their passing but where the grief and tribulation of the loss blinded me for the last 3 to 4 years, only now am I seeing the richness of that somewhat 'lopsided' gift and lesson.
So...
What commitments of honor are you willing to make dear readers?
What levels of "madness" are you willing to let go of so that you can accept something so much better?
A few forms of madness I'll continue to hold close will be my sense of humor and that I continue to be:
Russ
If not- it goes like this:
"The definition of 'madness' is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each and every time..."
I'm roughly 8 hours into the New Year, this '08.
Actually, I woke up to the sounds of fireworks, shouts of "Happy New Year" and my going-on-two year old's night-fright shrieks so the New Year and I are already acquainted. "Madness" in the sense of the idiom we're discussing is already a well embedded psychological trait- being a parent pretty much saw to that 6 years ago.
Still; stepping into this new year I had a chance to ponder this particular entry and what I'd say.
To be honest I hate the concept of "New Year's Resolutions". It's BS. Why would a person choose to wait for anything that would in effect help to better themselves?
Why wait to quit smoking?
Why wait to cut back on sweets?
Why wait to start even a daily five push-up ritual?
Anything that improves a person should wait for no man- even if that man is himself.
To me, a resolution is not a commitment- it's simply an affirmation to "give it the old college try".
Last time I checked- I never really "tried" all that hard in college- I was no gazelle when it came to the grades- but I knew how to "F" off and still pass with a better than average grade at the end of the semester. A "college try" is slightly better than the combination of a Kevin Smith movie slacker and a Revenge of the Nerds aptitude watching as your grade is determined by the actions of the student and the whims of an indoctrinated and entrenched Secular Progressive professor.
What this world needs is more promises. Real promises.
When I say promises- I'm talking about those types of promises that border on sepuku induced, honor crushing commitments to success if one fails. The world is so full of half-assed commitments it's little wonder we don't count the population by 1/2 as much.
Personally, my promises to myself and to this world will have to be for another time. I take my commitments seriously enough that I make no lists, make no affirmations and I most certainly will have success at them regardless how easy or hard.
For me, a purpose driven life means rewarding my family, my world and then myself- even if that self reward is nothing more than silent pride in a job well done: Increased self-actualization a strident goal that may or may not be complete at the end of my days.
If there's one thing I may state for you, dear readers- if one is just dying for something philosophical from 'Dear Russ'- so here's a 'hard one' from me.
I'll commit to letting go of those things that hold me back.
Letting go... Sounds so infantile in its simplicity- right?
Try this on for size...
- I'll let go of the trappings of what others- which subsequently become 'me- consider "wealth".
- I'll let go of the limiting fears of what a job entails, demands or expects.
- I'll let go of those things that seem so important "for-the-moment" and thusly tenaciously hold on to those things that truly are worthy of importance.
- I'll let go of my Crappaw- who's death has brought me closer to my own recognition to everyone's mortality.
And only once the commitment is made does one realize that the journey itself may in fact be the only possession- an intangible thing that becomes a reward/relic to the spirit. Something both my Grandfather and my Father-in-Law had shown me in their passing but where the grief and tribulation of the loss blinded me for the last 3 to 4 years, only now am I seeing the richness of that somewhat 'lopsided' gift and lesson.
So...
What commitments of honor are you willing to make dear readers?
What levels of "madness" are you willing to let go of so that you can accept something so much better?
A few forms of madness I'll continue to hold close will be my sense of humor and that I continue to be:
Russ
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