My feet are moving in a pattern that can best be described as the machine I am standing on and, that is elliptical. My feet are moving in an elliptical pattern. I am not moving through the earth but my imagination is soaring. In front of me on the elliptical I am looking at the kindle app on my Ipad.
One of my favorite things to do that I have made a habit is reading. I love to read books especially fiction ones. A good story can move us from where we are to an unknown world and I love that.
Did you know that Mark Twain was part of a confederate militia? For anyone who doesn’t know the confederates were part of the confederacy in the United States. The Confederacy was a racist part of the United States that fought a civil war so that they could keep slaves.
At the end and even middle of his life Mark Twain was far from racist. Twain wrote Huck FInn.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime
Mark Twain
I encourage everyone to see all of the world they can. Humans were made to wander and explore and interact with life all over the world.
The idea of being sentient to me has become a barometer for life. If a form of life is sentient than I believe that is life worth protecting. It was this type of thinking that caused me to change my diet. Right now my family and I are eating plant based protein because of the fact that many of the animals used for protein are sentient beings.
There are strangely enough, many situations that you may find yourself in that require the need to define life and this definition I created for my self has helped me navigate.
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Cider House Rules, is a great movie and I watched the movie but did not read the book (I know shame on me, I do intend to read the book someday). The movie is a classic and should be watched by all. In the movie a young man learns that rules written by those in charge may work in theory but not application.
You are living your life and you should learn what is right and wrong for yourself and not really on others to tell you. Learning right from wrong for yourself is called ethics and it is confusing and hard sometimes and there is nothing wrong with seeking help, however at the end of the day you must decide what is right or wrong
I have started watching my new favorite tv show on DIsney +, Secret Invasion. I have to warn you now that, this post has one only one small spoiler. The tv show follows Nick Fury and Talos as they uncover a conspiracy plot to take over earth.
Talos is an alien and unbeknownst to Nick Fury allowed all Aliens from his home planet (which was destroyed) to come to earth. There is a great scene where Talos confesses to Nick Fury that he has requested his fellow refugees come to earth.
Nick Fury asks Talos what he was thinking. Talos confesses that he was hoping that the aliens and the humans could live in peace. Nick Fury let Talos know that this was probably not possible because humans could not even live in peace with each other.
This scene made me think about how humans have consistently chosen violence over peace.
There is a great article in the scientific journal concerning War and human nature. The major surprise from the article is that war or violence is not human nature. Basically complex societies seem to be the reason for the violence.
I always take issue when humans try to make themselves out to be more than they really are.
We ain’t nothing but mammals
Eminem
Humans are part of the animal kingdom. I was asked by someone why I choose to become a vegetarian and I answered them saying that I don’t see why a humans life should be considered more important than a cows or a chickens.
Society has tricked us into a hubris state bordering on solipsism. This selfish state has justified genocide lives and the destruction of our planet.
Lets start rejecting the lies of complex society today and embrace life.
Today was my first day back from a weeks long vacation. Me, my wife, and niece spent a week in the bayou Teche. We were camping in our rv and had a blast. We did some exploring, fishing, and a whole lot of swimming.
When I got into work this morning the emails were there in abundance, so were the instant messages and phone calls. I got top work on the backlog and I am finally starting to clear out the workload. I purposely left behind my work cellphone, tablet and laptops. I was unplugged and disconnected but I didn’t feel that way. Out there on the water I felt more connected than I had in a pretty long time.
I thought it was odd as I stood alone on the water, fishing that, I would feel connected. I am a huge fan of nature but, I don’t think nature has magical properties. I do think nature can be restorative though simply because nature has a way of cutting out distractions (like pretty much all my emails, messages and calls) and making us focus on what matters.
So what is it that really matters? Life and the environment that we live in matter more than anything else. Last week we experienced the hottest days on record. Man made climate change has caused serious damage to life and the enviroment that we live in.
The man made climate change was accomplished through and still happening because of a lack of perspective. As a species we have become distracted and lost focus of what really matters.
Maybe we should all take a week of disconnect unplug and reconnect with what matters.
Every day I am blown away by the talent I see and hear on word press. Do yourself a favor this morning, read and listen to this artists work. I did and it brought me just as much joy as my morning coffee did (that is a huge compliment by the way because I am a huge fan of coffee).
I live in the United States of America and here we have a pay to play or live system. Capitalism is the economic and political system we use in the United States. Capitalism has created a pretty big gap between the haves and have nots in the United States. Over the past 20 – 30 years the United States has become the one of the most unequal countries in the world. The United States is the most unequal rich country in the world. Because of the inequity things like the lottery have grown in popularity by leaps and bounds. State lotteries are the most popular forms of gambling in the United States. About 18% of the United States citizens play the lottery on a monthly basis.
As I type this post there is a drawing tonight that will award the winner (if there is one, often no one guesses the right numbers) over 170 million dollars. 170 million dollars is a pretty large amount of money and would be life changing. An exercise that I am sure is done by everyone who buys a lottery ticket is a what if type of exercise.
What if I won the lottery? What would I do if I wasn’t trapped in this system? I think the exercise is fun for the first few minutes, then you begin to realize that you are trapped in a pretty awful system.
I think the lottery can be fun and is fun but capitalism is not. Capitalism is brutal and corrupt and continues to be brutal and corrupt.
A great way to beat capitalism is through charity and helping others. Here is a super interesting post about how 5 lottery winners stuck their fingers in the eye of capitalism. link to blog post
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
Did you know that the average age of most successful entrepreneurs was 42? When I say average age I mean average age at the start of their companies. Did you know that Mark Twain did not start writing until he was 42?
Age really is just a number. We are often conditioned to think that there is a prime time in our lives, but honestly their isn’t there is just our lives. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are too old or too young to do something especially since age is just a number.
This week the world is experiencing intense heat. Just last week, the planet was the hottest it has ever been. This intense heat has some pretty dire consequences and will and is changing the way that humans live on the earth. There are foods that we once ate that we cannot eat anymore, homes and parts of the world that humans lived in and cannot anymore the ways that climate change have already affected humans is long and getting longer. In the 80’s scientists were ringing the alarm bells about the consequences of burning fossil fuels. No one listened because society didn’t want to.
In the 90’s the scientists rang again and no one listened. We should have but we didn’t really need to.
Now here we are in 2023 and we have to listen. Burning fossil fuels has destroyed the world we live in and changed the climate so much that we now have to listen if we do not humans will not adapt. This article in Time magazine outlines how humans will not be able to adapt to the pace of the heat on Earth.
The changes are being made but the pace we make the changes has to happen at a more rapid rate. We need to consider the environment before any action we make. Reduce, reuse and recycle and stop burning fossil fuels for transportation and energy creation.
The action in the video starts at 4 minutes 46 seconds. At 4 minutes 46 seconds the band named Sharp Dressed Band starts playing, yes they are a ZZ TOP cover band. What I love about this video is that the drummer, whose name is Steve Moore and is called the mad drummer, just goes off on the drums. The guy is mad good at being a drummer and is showing off his skills filliping his sticks and playing like he is performing in front of thousands of screaming fans, This guy brings it as a drummer. When you get the chance you should visit Steve’s website . Yes his website is www.the maddrummer.com. This guy can play and when he gets the chance he does!
We should always do the best we can no matter where we are and who we are doing it for. This can be hard but the benefits are tremendous. If you had the chance to see Steve’s website you can see that, Steve has done some pretty big gigs,and that is because Steve is an amazing drummer no matter where he is or who he is performing for Steve brings it.
Today at work whatever you are doing you should bring it. Do the best you can.
The Corrigan Encore 