Suspension of Disbelief

In the past weeks I had been getting very bored with my old design. It seemed too drab. I stumbled across this new one. I hope everyone likes it. As I said, I've redone the format. I know I can here you cursing now, so shut it and get back in line. Anywho ... Elsewise I will also be introducing a Photo Album feature. It is currently up and running, but seriously lacking content. I'll get on that soon enough. Likewise, I have a new Guestbook. Mostly, it's because I've lost the link to the old one, and it may change again as I don't like ads on my pages. Sigh! And I'm sure I'll think up a few other new things down the road. As usual with this process... it is a work in progress. So, if all the features don't work just yet, bugger off until I fix everything! Alrighty then. No complaints. FFF

Wikipedia-ism is the idea that some information services are unreliable because the content of such sources cannot be controlled by the establishment. What is fact but truth as it is accepted by the establishment? 2000 years ago, the fact that the earth was flat was undeniable, yet people knew and could prove otherwise. The idea that doctrine and even thought could be fluid and not a controllable entity scares the establishment, be it governments, religion, or the local 4-H Club. They fear losing control over what we believe. This control is their power and the free exchange of informational "non-fact" can and does threaten the existence and power of the status quo. Wikipedia-ism will continue for as long as there is someone in power who does not want to share it with others. That power is the ability to choose fact. In my opinion, we should all be able to choose fact for ourselves. Of course, we will not always get it right, but then again neither do they now get it right al...

Mankind thrives on conflict individually. Without challenge or inspiration, we fade into complacency and melancholy. We do not live up to our creative potential and many times even take our own lives. Why then should it be any different for mankind as a whole? History is dotted with complications, with challenge, and with inspiration. Dissent from Church doctrine and the ensuing counter movement led to the creativity of the Renaissance period. The wars of Western Europe led to Western European dominance of the world market for some five hundred years. And the U.S.-Soviet Cold War feud spurred the onset of the Space Age. The future will likely continue in such "chaos"; if the species is to survive, I believe, it must. Utopia, in a traditional sense will never happen except to be followed swiftly by the end of a section or of the whole of mankind. Man like a flower must continuously stretch to a light source for food. Remove that light and the plant will wither and die. So too ...

Predatory lending is one of two major causes of economic distress in the United States today, the other of course being oil. It is the idea that mortgage companies have in the past decade given out unwise loans, particularly for mortgages, to people believing that they could assume the debt incurred if they client defaults on the mortgage. Simply put, these mortgage brokerages would take the house from their client, and since the value of the housing market had been increasingly seemingly without end, it was obvious that even if they were to temporarily assume a debt, that debt would be erased, with profit, when they next sell the house and possibly pick up another unstable mortgage loan. They made money off of giving loans to people who could not feasibly pay them off. Many would default on those loans and the lenders would actually make money off the process, off the pain they generated. The second type of predatory lending I wish to speak of is one in which lenders provide so cal...

I had an interesting conversation last night while playing free online poker that I would like to elaborate on. Some people are only looking out for themselves. Some people don't care what happens to others because it's never happened to them. They don't care about the health or well-being of other people, because it doesn't "benefit" them. I bring this, albeit common occurrence of the sheeple class, up because of the impending presidential election. These people have a candidate too, oh yes they do. And his name is Ron Paul. Government shouldn't care about whether people starve. It shouldn't be concerned of whether or not its people get a good education or health care, food or warmth, whether they are discriminated against or not. Why? Because it would give government power over people. Oh horrors. Surely this would be horrible. We cannot possibly give people a good education or health care. People don't deserve food or warmth. Of c...

A lot can be said about the so-called American "melting pot," the general theory being that people of different cultures come to America and melt into the American 1950's "ideal" family with 2.5 children, a white picket fence around a brand new cookie cutter house, and a dog named Max or Rover or some other American name for a mutt or perhaps a German Shepard or dalmatian. Of course, the 1950's American Dream comes from an atypical mold. It is impossible for everyone to attain the American Dream because the American Dream as the picture perfect 1950's lifestyle -- with a shiny new family car, ever wise and never rash father figure, docile and obedient wife and children, and a single-income paycheck that will always cover your every need and sometimes a little extra for a gift for the wife and children because they're just so super -- it is ideal for only one member of the family:  the father, traditional and ideal with a sports jacket, loafers, a...

There are 101 days left to this vacation and already I'm bored silly. Go figure, I know. They, who ever they are, say that vacation is a time for rest and relaxation, but I'm more relaxed when I have something to keep me entertained. Work doesn't really bother me that much, not compared to having nothing to do whatsoever. It gets you moving, keeps you on the ball if you will. Nothing, it keeps you tired and bored and stupid. So tomorrow I'll go find something to do to keep me occupied at least for a little while. Only when there is motivation is there progress, and only with progress do we find greater motivation. Vacation is nice when it's about a week or so. It's just enough time to lie around and do nothing, thinking about the stuff you've finished since the last time you've sat around thinking about the stuff you've finished since the time before. There's no time for other activities, if there was I'd bet that vacation wouldn...