Life presents the glorious opportunity to learn something new every day, but some days seem built for reflection. They seem to be the days where you're trapped inside of a glass box 13 stories up in the air while the sun shines on the rest of the world. So here are some thoughts:
The only bad thing about an hallucinogen-filled past is getting Phish songs stuck in your head at random 10 years later.
I'll have a beer at lunch if I want. You make me take an hour break in the middle of my day. It's not long enough to continue living my life or be productive, but long enough to have a beer. So pour it up.
People lie too much. There's too much gossip and back-stabbing. But this is not human nature - this is the easy way out. Human nature is to persevere against the odds, live, love, procreate, and sustain. Being a punk is the opposite of human nature. It's time that we demand more from each other.
People who whistle in public deserve to be stabbed.
Kids are never in the way. Up to the age of 16 you're allowed to bump into, or trip over, whomever/whatever the hell you want. The adult should anticipate that shit and move out of the way, or have the emotional maturity to get over it instantly.
Life is good. Keep thinking.
Turning philosophy, politics, and ethics inside out, picking them apart, then reassembing them as ideas for a new way to look at life. Agree or disagree, you'll find it's worth reading. © 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
reality thoughts
Based on what tv shows are currently popular, one must assume that humans either have an excellent sense of humor or no self-awareness.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
True Economics
Long ago, a man saw a need for socks. People were buying them, and buying a lot of them. If stores were selling a lot of them they must have a need to get more of them from somewhere. And they did. So he went to the town bank. He spoke with a man he had known his whole life. He told the man about this need, and the man agreed that where there was a need, it should be filled. So he loaned the first man the money to start a sock making factory.
The first man built the factory on the outskirts of town. He gave a job to everyone that needed one. He used the best quality materials, treated his workers well, paid a living wage, and soon his business took off. It did so well that within the first year he was able to give jobs to people from the surrounding towns too.
Understanding that no man is an island, and that the key to maintaining wealth is to preserve it, he continued paying a living wage to all of his workers. He lived in the biggest house in town, but he knew that unless the other houses were nice and neat, his house wouldn't hold it's value. All of the kids in town went to school with his kids. So he also provided health care for his employees because he knew that if they or their children became sick it would impact his business and his family too.
The town prospered and grew, and word of his success spread far and wide. Stores across the land proudly sold his socks. And people noticed.
The bank man that loaned him the money had recently joined a group of other well-monied men that called themselves 'investors'. And they saw great potential in the sock factory. The sock man's children were now grown, and none had even the slightest interest in staying in the sock business. So when the bank men approached him with a new idea, he took the deal. The idea was simple: Lots of people had loaned a little bit of money to the bank men. The bank men took that money and bought the sock factory, confident they could make a profit for themselves and the people that had lent them money.
And they did. The factory kept churning out more and more socks. The sock factory man retired and lived nicely on a beach somewhere, and the shareholders that now owned the factory were making money for doing nothing. It was the perfect. Until the threading machine broke. It was the biggest machine in the factory. It had run for 40 years without so much as a hiccup, that is until it suddenly seized. The manager of the factory began to collect quotes for repair, but the machine was too old and parts weren't available. A new machine had to be purchased, and due to inflation and technological advances, it cost more than a month's payroll.
The bank men knew that they couldn't reduce the payout to the shareholders to cover this cost. If they did, no one would ever loan them money again. But there was good news. By 'investing' more of that shareholder money in the best machine available they could immediately reduce their staffing needs by over 20%. When they still needed more cuts in order to protect themselves from a loss one of the bank men proposed lowering the wage for new workers. After all, this was just socks. Anyone could do it, so why pay more than they have to?
Immediately payroll decreased another 10%. And if that was just part of the normal turnover, why were they paying the 60 year olds who had worked their 40 years so much money? Old people can't do as much, and they had just learned that young people come cheaper. Another of the bank men had the idea to force the older workers into retirement. In the past, retirees had always been given a pension, but would the shareholders tolerate paying someone not to work? Of course not, so that was cut. And just like that, payroll was low enough to cover the cost of the machine...for now.
This pattern continued for many years. Eventually everyone at the factory was making the least they could possibly make, and the town was worse for the wear. All the local stores had closed because no one could afford to shop there anymore. The factory no longer paid for health care, and because sick time was limited to 6 days a year children often went to school ill, simply having no other place to go. With the health care gone, the hospital couldn't stay. With the stores went the other jobs, with the jobs went the landscaping companies that kept the yards looking nice, the repair companies that updated the houses, and the restaurants and parks that helped support tourists and other visitors. Since the owners of the factory didn't live in the town, or even know they owned part of a factory in many cases, no one who could stop it was there to witness what was going on.
Then one day, one of the brothers of a bank man returned from a vacation in a country called China, where he had seen the most marvelous things. But he never went to the Great Wall, or the Forbidden City. He spent his whole trip in a factory. He quickly assembled all the bank men, who now referred to themselves as the 'Board of Directors', and excitedly related what he had learned: For less than the cost of one month's payroll, the whole factory could be moved to to this place called China. Then, for less than the cost of the next months payroll, it could be operated for an entire year.
The shareholders, not one of which lived in the town of course, were delighted. Dividends could increase by $.05/share/month, but that was enough because, after all...it was free money for them, so the measure passed a vote.
The factory was shuddered and relocated 15000 miles away. The town? It's gone now. The bank? It's one of the biggest in the world. 2 years ago they were bailed out by the taxpayers of their country when bad loans got called in en masse. But this year they're back. They posted a record profit and didn't pay a dime in taxes.
Happy Tax Day, America.
The first man built the factory on the outskirts of town. He gave a job to everyone that needed one. He used the best quality materials, treated his workers well, paid a living wage, and soon his business took off. It did so well that within the first year he was able to give jobs to people from the surrounding towns too.
Understanding that no man is an island, and that the key to maintaining wealth is to preserve it, he continued paying a living wage to all of his workers. He lived in the biggest house in town, but he knew that unless the other houses were nice and neat, his house wouldn't hold it's value. All of the kids in town went to school with his kids. So he also provided health care for his employees because he knew that if they or their children became sick it would impact his business and his family too.
The town prospered and grew, and word of his success spread far and wide. Stores across the land proudly sold his socks. And people noticed.
The bank man that loaned him the money had recently joined a group of other well-monied men that called themselves 'investors'. And they saw great potential in the sock factory. The sock man's children were now grown, and none had even the slightest interest in staying in the sock business. So when the bank men approached him with a new idea, he took the deal. The idea was simple: Lots of people had loaned a little bit of money to the bank men. The bank men took that money and bought the sock factory, confident they could make a profit for themselves and the people that had lent them money.
And they did. The factory kept churning out more and more socks. The sock factory man retired and lived nicely on a beach somewhere, and the shareholders that now owned the factory were making money for doing nothing. It was the perfect. Until the threading machine broke. It was the biggest machine in the factory. It had run for 40 years without so much as a hiccup, that is until it suddenly seized. The manager of the factory began to collect quotes for repair, but the machine was too old and parts weren't available. A new machine had to be purchased, and due to inflation and technological advances, it cost more than a month's payroll.
The bank men knew that they couldn't reduce the payout to the shareholders to cover this cost. If they did, no one would ever loan them money again. But there was good news. By 'investing' more of that shareholder money in the best machine available they could immediately reduce their staffing needs by over 20%. When they still needed more cuts in order to protect themselves from a loss one of the bank men proposed lowering the wage for new workers. After all, this was just socks. Anyone could do it, so why pay more than they have to?
Immediately payroll decreased another 10%. And if that was just part of the normal turnover, why were they paying the 60 year olds who had worked their 40 years so much money? Old people can't do as much, and they had just learned that young people come cheaper. Another of the bank men had the idea to force the older workers into retirement. In the past, retirees had always been given a pension, but would the shareholders tolerate paying someone not to work? Of course not, so that was cut. And just like that, payroll was low enough to cover the cost of the machine...for now.
This pattern continued for many years. Eventually everyone at the factory was making the least they could possibly make, and the town was worse for the wear. All the local stores had closed because no one could afford to shop there anymore. The factory no longer paid for health care, and because sick time was limited to 6 days a year children often went to school ill, simply having no other place to go. With the health care gone, the hospital couldn't stay. With the stores went the other jobs, with the jobs went the landscaping companies that kept the yards looking nice, the repair companies that updated the houses, and the restaurants and parks that helped support tourists and other visitors. Since the owners of the factory didn't live in the town, or even know they owned part of a factory in many cases, no one who could stop it was there to witness what was going on.
Then one day, one of the brothers of a bank man returned from a vacation in a country called China, where he had seen the most marvelous things. But he never went to the Great Wall, or the Forbidden City. He spent his whole trip in a factory. He quickly assembled all the bank men, who now referred to themselves as the 'Board of Directors', and excitedly related what he had learned: For less than the cost of one month's payroll, the whole factory could be moved to to this place called China. Then, for less than the cost of the next months payroll, it could be operated for an entire year.
The shareholders, not one of which lived in the town of course, were delighted. Dividends could increase by $.05/share/month, but that was enough because, after all...it was free money for them, so the measure passed a vote.
The factory was shuddered and relocated 15000 miles away. The town? It's gone now. The bank? It's one of the biggest in the world. 2 years ago they were bailed out by the taxpayers of their country when bad loans got called in en masse. But this year they're back. They posted a record profit and didn't pay a dime in taxes.
Happy Tax Day, America.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Tasty Thoughts
Do you love your dog? Your cat? Your parakeet? Your pygmy marmoset? If you're like most people in a developed, first-world country, you do. But how much do you love them? I say there's a good chance that you love them too much. And not just you lonely sheep farmers, I'm talking to you, middle America.
Now animal abuse should not be tolerated. The companionship of an animal can be invaluable, and is to millions of people across this planet. Animals do a lot of good, chiefly because they bring happiness. Furry little packages of happy. That's so cute I just threw up in the back of my mouth a little.
But every time I hear someone call their dog their "baby" or their "kid", I want to stamp their skull into the pavement. Too violent? Let me qualify it: The person's skull, not the pet's. Foreigners, take note that it is now okay because in the US of A we value pets over people.
You can interpret your own damn statistics. Isn't it enough I'm providing them for you?
-45.4 Billion. That's the number of dollars spent on pets in the USofA in 2008
-62.6 Billion. That the number of dollars spent on public education in the USofA in 2008. All of it.
-5000. The estimated number of animal shelters in the USofA
-1500. The (rough) number of shelters for abused women/children in the USofA
-$6.8 Million. The amount of Michael Vick's 2-year deal with Philly, signed in 2009
-80,500. The number of people Michael Vick's salary could have saved from homelessness
In 2006 animal rights activists tried to block an oceanic wind farm from construction off the coast of California because it would disrupt the migratory paterns of a nearly extinct species of bird.
Birds are food. Food is something we can't live without. Energy is something we can't live without. The logical solution? Eat all but 2 of the birds - one male, on female. Feed the rest to those battered women and homeless kids that we just don't give a shit about. Then put the remaining birds in a zoo where we can all marvel at them and pine over their sad fate. Our kids can watch their bizzare mating practices and kackle with glee. The birds can do it a bunch, then our grandkids can point and kackle at their kids. Which we will be able to do, because we didn't do something stupid like risk our own continued survival to protect a species dying of natural causes. Eff you, California. Don't come crying to me when the San Andreas Fault decides to shake your appletini's for you once and for all!
Animals have their place in this world. We need to recognize where that is: Under us in the food chain, but not under our boot. It's time for logic, reason, and rationality. It's time for real, honest thought.
And your pet is not a child. Well, not your child anyway. Weirdo.
Now animal abuse should not be tolerated. The companionship of an animal can be invaluable, and is to millions of people across this planet. Animals do a lot of good, chiefly because they bring happiness. Furry little packages of happy. That's so cute I just threw up in the back of my mouth a little.
But every time I hear someone call their dog their "baby" or their "kid", I want to stamp their skull into the pavement. Too violent? Let me qualify it: The person's skull, not the pet's. Foreigners, take note that it is now okay because in the US of A we value pets over people.
You can interpret your own damn statistics. Isn't it enough I'm providing them for you?
-45.4 Billion. That's the number of dollars spent on pets in the USofA in 2008
-62.6 Billion. That the number of dollars spent on public education in the USofA in 2008. All of it.
-5000. The estimated number of animal shelters in the USofA
-1500. The (rough) number of shelters for abused women/children in the USofA
-$6.8 Million. The amount of Michael Vick's 2-year deal with Philly, signed in 2009
-80,500. The number of people Michael Vick's salary could have saved from homelessness
In 2006 animal rights activists tried to block an oceanic wind farm from construction off the coast of California because it would disrupt the migratory paterns of a nearly extinct species of bird.
Birds are food. Food is something we can't live without. Energy is something we can't live without. The logical solution? Eat all but 2 of the birds - one male, on female. Feed the rest to those battered women and homeless kids that we just don't give a shit about. Then put the remaining birds in a zoo where we can all marvel at them and pine over their sad fate. Our kids can watch their bizzare mating practices and kackle with glee. The birds can do it a bunch, then our grandkids can point and kackle at their kids. Which we will be able to do, because we didn't do something stupid like risk our own continued survival to protect a species dying of natural causes. Eff you, California. Don't come crying to me when the San Andreas Fault decides to shake your appletini's for you once and for all!
Animals have their place in this world. We need to recognize where that is: Under us in the food chain, but not under our boot. It's time for logic, reason, and rationality. It's time for real, honest thought.
And your pet is not a child. Well, not your child anyway. Weirdo.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
New and Improved! Better Tasting! Fortified with Vitamins and Minerals!
So I kept up with this really well for a month or so. Then I moved, had a bunch of other crap happen, and kind of fell off. Looking back over the posts I see some commonalities and differences: some are really great, some are pretty crappy, some are funny, others are hostile, some are easy and some are trying too hard. But they're all too long. So brevity is the name of the game now. I think this will represent an improvement. And I just heard a small sigh of relief (looking at you, Jackie). There may still be an grand essay from time to time, but I'm not in college anymore, so don't count on it. I will contribute every day that I can and you are invited to contribute as well. There may also be a migration over to word press in the near future, more to come on that...umm...in the future...
Today's thought: Glenn Beck got kinda'-fired from Fox News. Maybe they are moving away from divisive and erratic hate speech? Or maybe people really aren't that nuts? Or maybe P-Diddy was right all along: it really is all about the Benjamin's. Baby. Either way, it can't be anything but good. Maybe all of these guys and gals are on their way out the door. Maybe we'll have real news again one day. As much as my liberal friends decry the Fox News, there are channels and shows that pander to the liberal audience as well. They are just as much a part of the problem. Information should never be beholden to any interest but its own: being known.
This psuedo-firing can go in the right direction for all of us, but it needs to be a demand by the people and for the people. I leave you with a thought that I happen to think is pretty freakin' excellent (and relevant):
Today's thought: Glenn Beck got kinda'-fired from Fox News. Maybe they are moving away from divisive and erratic hate speech? Or maybe people really aren't that nuts? Or maybe P-Diddy was right all along: it really is all about the Benjamin's. Baby. Either way, it can't be anything but good. Maybe all of these guys and gals are on their way out the door. Maybe we'll have real news again one day. As much as my liberal friends decry the Fox News, there are channels and shows that pander to the liberal audience as well. They are just as much a part of the problem. Information should never be beholden to any interest but its own: being known.
This psuedo-firing can go in the right direction for all of us, but it needs to be a demand by the people and for the people. I leave you with a thought that I happen to think is pretty freakin' excellent (and relevant):
"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."
-Samuel Adams
-Samuel Adams
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