Global Warming?
Whether global warming is or isn’t happening isn’t something I stress about. It might really be happening. It might not. It seems we spend an awful lot of time and energy worrying about things we have very little control over. Has man made an impact on the planet? Sure. Both good and bad. But when you look at the 5 billion year history of the earth, we are but a speck in that timeline. The dinosaurs were here for 165 million years. We’ve been here 200,000 years. That means the dinosaurs were here 825 times longer than we have been. I’m guessing they made a bigger impact on this planet than we ever will. That also means that humans have only been on this planet for .004 percent of it’s existence. Think about that. If my calculations are correct, that’s 20 minutes if we scaled the earth’s existence down to 1 year. Think about anything you’ve done that lasted 20 minutes (ya, I know where your mind is going on that one). How much of an impact did it make on the earth? Possibly another human being was spawned because of it. Ok, I’ll give ya that. 1 more person out of the 7 billion on this planet. The point I’m trying to make is how insignificant our time on this planet has been. Read the Bill Bryson book “A Short History of Nearly Everything” and you’ll come to a greater appreciation for that.
So back to global warming. Wouldn’t the earth have gone through this cycle anyway? It’s obliterated life on the planet several times in it’s existence. Why would our generation be any different? We will cease to exist at some point in time and the next iteration will crawl out of the swamps. I don’t consider this a defeatest attitude, just realistic. We would be naive to think we’ll be around for ever. This certainly doesn’t give us the right to abuse the planet, but then again, ultimately it probably really doesn’t matter that much. The next species will dig up our bones and wonder what we were like and why we became extinct.
As human beings we have a tendency to not see the bigger picture and put things in perspective. This is especially true when you are emotional invested in something. But if we stand back and realize our insignifigance in the whole process I think we would be humbled. Enjoy the planet, treat each other nicely, and relax and enjoy the ride. And if it gets toasty outside, be glad we were ingenious enough to invent air-conditioning. How cool is that???
I Must Be Oblivious
I will admit it. I don’t know Casey Anthony from Anthony Weiner. I didn’t follow the trial nor do I know anything other than she was a woman accused of killing her child. Every time a news story came on about her I changed the channel. Years ago I was gripped by the OJ trial. I couldn’t get enough and tuned in for every little bit of info. This time I hadn’t even heard of the case until just a few weeks ago. Why was I so oblivious/disinterested this time around? I hardly doubt it had to do with the lack of media coverage. I think it was more about my lack of need to consume what the media was offering. I’m sure this was probably a bigger circus than OJ, but I just didn’t buy a ticket. Why? I think this has a lot to do with my experiences with the court system during my divorce trial and my opinion that court cases should be private.
Who decided this is entertainment? When did the court system become a reality TV show? Why should I support this poor family being drug through the media gutter? Why give the lawyers the limelight they so desperately crave? It’s a scary future. Movies like “The Running Man” may not be that far away. I need to know what’s going on in government and I need an unbiased news report. I don’t need to know what’s going on in everyone’s personal life (well… except for what people want to expose on Facebook). I find that if I concentrate on what I am doing and not what everyone else is doing, life gets a whole lot easier and a lot less stressful.
Sometimes I still get sucked up by the media and it pisses me off. I have to snap myself out of it and take a nice long walk through nature. It’s so easy to get caught up in the sensationalism. I’m not trying to be preachy, just trying to understand why my perspectives have changed. If you ever experience the court systems, perhaps your views will change as well. Lawyers for the most part are not interested in coming to a speedy resolution. They certainly aren’t sympathetic or vested in their client’s emotions. Most have learned to detach. The media doesn’t seem too concerned with a person’s emotions or privacy either. Just watch Nancy Grace for more than 5 minutes, if you can swallow it, for proof of that (I’m sure she doesn’t have any demons in her closet).
So maybe the trial wasn’t fair or maybe the verdict wasn’t just. I have absolutely no idea. I also don’t care. It’s a private matter.
Stock Market
Interesting…
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Inaugural Panoramic
Unbelievable
Make sure you try the zoom!
It Don’t Matter If You’re Black Or White (MJ fans will understand the reference)
Jack Black As Jesus! (Obama Nation)
Obama-Withdrawl
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
Four Bears Walk Into A Bar…
Interesting graph showing the 4 bad bear markets we’ve had. Draw your own conclusions. Click on image for a better look. Thanks Bruce!
Webside Chats
Pretty cool. First Twitter, now this.
Church v.s. State
I guess I was kind of disappointed to read this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protest7-2008nov07,0,3827549.story
I really don’t think religious groups should tell you how to vote, nor should they contribute to a campaign.
Some people might think we are going to Hell in a hand-basket. Heaven forbid we have a black president, who is the best damn father I’ve seen and who is married to a woman who is going to promote family to our country. Heaven forbid 2 people who love each other want to get married and raise a family.
I personally think intolerance and ignorance does the most harm. Most wars are a result of this intolerance. Thinking someone else should be living the way we do and enforcing our way of life on them. We are a relatively new country. How can we pretend to think it’s our way or the highway? How can a country that’s only 5% of the world’s population think it’s the majority? Most of the world is not white (http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_5.htm). The majority of the world is not Christian (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html). We ARE the minority! We live in a world of many wonderful cultures. Perhaps we should convert to their way of thinking?
P.S. I actually had people that would not let their children come up to my door to trick-or-treat because I had Obama signs in my yard. Now that’s parenting! Instill the fear into the children.
