I'm just about set. LG&E restored my power last night. Since my neighborhood was down, AND the individual lines to my house had been ripped free by a falling branch, I'd assumed I'd be down for a week or more.
This was the first extended outage I've ever experienced during cold weather. My brother described it as "camping in a really good tent.
My girlfriend ("J") had a generator she owns jointly with her Ex, so we fetched it. Along with a couple of space heaters, we took the edge off the cold. The last few days turned into working to cope, hooking up the generator, finding a secure place to put it, running extensions lines into the house, getting containers to carry gasoline, filling coolers with snow, and emptying my fridge, moving video game equipment and hooking it up so the kids wouldn't too bored, making supper on my grill standing in the snow...
Nice to be lazy again today, but there's something enjoyable about "survival mode".
Meanwhile, everything I did now has to be undone.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
My house.
No power.
No heat.
No phone.
No computer.
No Internet.
Just me & my iPhone huddled in front of a gas log.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mahatma Microsoft
I'm watching "Gandhi".
I've always had a fascination, and a weak spot for Gandhi. He epitomized a level of wisdom I could never hope to approach.
Here, now, with a glass of whiskey in my hand and a pack of cigarettes by my chair, I wonder how we could apply his lessons to today's inequities.
Today, society's inequites are more systemic, more due to how much of influence our corporate structure has, and how little the mass of humanity has. There is not the central power structure that there was in Gandhi's day.
But, the inequities do exist, and they exist in at an ever increasing level.
I'm pondering. I'm pondering how we could apply Gandhi's lessons to today's inequities. I'm pondering what the moral justification of resistance would be.
This is a work in progress of course, but there is one idea that occurs to me.
Today's corporations employ entire buildings full of people to influence our politics, warp our policy to fit their purpose. They do this without paying the price of the results.
Increasingly, I believe that we should limit the rights to free speach to those that have the right to vote. Corporations have no right to vote, so corporations have no right to free speach.
If a company wants to participate in political activities, they they must bear the responsibilities that come with citizenship. We are all responsible for each other at some level. Companies apply the cold equation of profit exclusively to their actions, yet claim the rights of a citizen that lives, works, and sleeps with fellow citizens.
I think the rights of citizens should not be extended to corporations. If a corporation wishes to lobby the government, display political advertisements, influence public policy, then they must meet a minimal standard for social responsibility.
This concept is just the beginning of what should be set of broad changes. Companies need to be responsible at some level for their workers. They need to offer them training instead of demanding more and more educated workers without contributing enough to education in America.
If they wish to not be responsible for the health of their workers, then they need to abide for certain standards to allow their workers to be responsible for their own health.
The list is endless, we are allowing our corporations to rule our society.
There must be a way of combining the lessons of Gandhi to our current social problems.
I'm going to ponder this.
I've always had a fascination, and a weak spot for Gandhi. He epitomized a level of wisdom I could never hope to approach.
Here, now, with a glass of whiskey in my hand and a pack of cigarettes by my chair, I wonder how we could apply his lessons to today's inequities.
Today, society's inequites are more systemic, more due to how much of influence our corporate structure has, and how little the mass of humanity has. There is not the central power structure that there was in Gandhi's day.
But, the inequities do exist, and they exist in at an ever increasing level.
I'm pondering. I'm pondering how we could apply Gandhi's lessons to today's inequities. I'm pondering what the moral justification of resistance would be.
This is a work in progress of course, but there is one idea that occurs to me.
Today's corporations employ entire buildings full of people to influence our politics, warp our policy to fit their purpose. They do this without paying the price of the results.
Increasingly, I believe that we should limit the rights to free speach to those that have the right to vote. Corporations have no right to vote, so corporations have no right to free speach.
If a company wants to participate in political activities, they they must bear the responsibilities that come with citizenship. We are all responsible for each other at some level. Companies apply the cold equation of profit exclusively to their actions, yet claim the rights of a citizen that lives, works, and sleeps with fellow citizens.
I think the rights of citizens should not be extended to corporations. If a corporation wishes to lobby the government, display political advertisements, influence public policy, then they must meet a minimal standard for social responsibility.
This concept is just the beginning of what should be set of broad changes. Companies need to be responsible at some level for their workers. They need to offer them training instead of demanding more and more educated workers without contributing enough to education in America.
If they wish to not be responsible for the health of their workers, then they need to abide for certain standards to allow their workers to be responsible for their own health.
The list is endless, we are allowing our corporations to rule our society.
There must be a way of combining the lessons of Gandhi to our current social problems.
I'm going to ponder this.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
These people are serious
Within minutes of Barack Obama becoming our President, the website www.whitehouse.gov changed drastically.
Check it out. I know enough about what it takes to create a website to know they've been working hard to prepare this in the days since the election.
Check it out. I know enough about what it takes to create a website to know they've been working hard to prepare this in the days since the election.
I love symbolism
I encourage everyone in the world to shave themselves to celebrate being "Bushless".
It's fun, it's hygenic, and it's the kind of message we need to send.
It's fun, it's hygenic, and it's the kind of message we need to send.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Personal responsibility vs. compassion
I watched the movie "Traffic" a few days ago.
It was a great movie, being one that looks at an issue from all sides. There was a scene in which a college student was talking to the "drug czar" for the US.
He was trying to explain the drug traffic in the poorer sections of town. He described the atmosphere in which it happens, the influx of thousands of richer (mostly white) people that pour into these neighborhoods, asking everyone around if they know where there are some drugs for sale.
Imagine living there, with all these rich (by your standards) people asking to buy drugs. Imagine knowing that all you'd have to do is sell some, and you could spend a few hours a day to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars easily.
If that was happening in the richer neighborhoods, how many of those kids do you think would go to law school?
The people that give in and take the easy way out are still responsibilt, but it brings up the concept of personal responsibility vs. compassion.
I was debating declining school grades, and the parent's responsibility with someone once. The man I debated was from another country. I was trying to make the point that the nation was full of single mothers or even full parent households of adults working two, or even three jobs just to keep a roof over them, and food on the table. The more this kind of thing happens, the less likely the parents are to put in the time they should to help and guide their children.
He was all about personal responsibility, saying "it doesn't matter", he knew parents that did without sleep nightly to help their children.
There's a lot of this around, people ignore the societal problems and focus solely on "what they SHOULD have done".
We do horrible things to our young women. We glorify their sexuality, all of society rotates around a pretty young woman.
Later when some of them become manipulative, when they've learned they can behave any way they want to and avoid responsibility by being flirtatious, when they lie, flirt, or even fuck people to get their way, we come down on them hard.
It's true in all of these cases... The assholes deserve it, they fell into a trap. They took the easy way with drugs, let the world keep them from being good parents, or let themselves become social sluts, using and manipulating those around them...
But we also to look however, at how that happens. Some liberals look only at the societal pitfalls, and forgive the individuals because of them.
Some conservatives look only at the personal responsibility, and ignore the societal pitfalls.
We can't ignore either. Assholes (or in the parental cases, the overwhelmed) deserve the results of their actions, we can't save them from that. In the asshole cases, I have no intention of forgiving people for making bad choices.
But we also need to look at why people make these bad choices, why they find the proper actions so hard. We can't ignore the barriers we put in front of people, or the temptations we create for them. Bad behaviour doesn't happen in a vacuum, if we gave people some help, or even a fair shake... If we gave them a SINGLE way out toward a reasonable life, I think we'd find things would get a lot better.
It was a great movie, being one that looks at an issue from all sides. There was a scene in which a college student was talking to the "drug czar" for the US.
He was trying to explain the drug traffic in the poorer sections of town. He described the atmosphere in which it happens, the influx of thousands of richer (mostly white) people that pour into these neighborhoods, asking everyone around if they know where there are some drugs for sale.
Imagine living there, with all these rich (by your standards) people asking to buy drugs. Imagine knowing that all you'd have to do is sell some, and you could spend a few hours a day to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars easily.
If that was happening in the richer neighborhoods, how many of those kids do you think would go to law school?
The people that give in and take the easy way out are still responsibilt, but it brings up the concept of personal responsibility vs. compassion.
I was debating declining school grades, and the parent's responsibility with someone once. The man I debated was from another country. I was trying to make the point that the nation was full of single mothers or even full parent households of adults working two, or even three jobs just to keep a roof over them, and food on the table. The more this kind of thing happens, the less likely the parents are to put in the time they should to help and guide their children.
He was all about personal responsibility, saying "it doesn't matter", he knew parents that did without sleep nightly to help their children.
There's a lot of this around, people ignore the societal problems and focus solely on "what they SHOULD have done".
We do horrible things to our young women. We glorify their sexuality, all of society rotates around a pretty young woman.
Later when some of them become manipulative, when they've learned they can behave any way they want to and avoid responsibility by being flirtatious, when they lie, flirt, or even fuck people to get their way, we come down on them hard.
It's true in all of these cases... The assholes deserve it, they fell into a trap. They took the easy way with drugs, let the world keep them from being good parents, or let themselves become social sluts, using and manipulating those around them...
But we also to look however, at how that happens. Some liberals look only at the societal pitfalls, and forgive the individuals because of them.
Some conservatives look only at the personal responsibility, and ignore the societal pitfalls.
We can't ignore either. Assholes (or in the parental cases, the overwhelmed) deserve the results of their actions, we can't save them from that. In the asshole cases, I have no intention of forgiving people for making bad choices.
But we also need to look at why people make these bad choices, why they find the proper actions so hard. We can't ignore the barriers we put in front of people, or the temptations we create for them. Bad behaviour doesn't happen in a vacuum, if we gave people some help, or even a fair shake... If we gave them a SINGLE way out toward a reasonable life, I think we'd find things would get a lot better.
Friday, January 2, 2009
I'm not LISTENING!!! LA LA LA LA LA!
I have the gift.
Well, I have A gift, and I'm not so sure it's a gift.
I'm a good counselor. People come to me when they have problems, to get support, find a way out, find some comisseration.
I never understood why it seems to be so rare, but it does. It only takes consideration, empathy, a little honesty (in the right places)... You just have to sympathize, tell the other person that it isn't their fault, agree that circumstances dealt them raw hand...
Of course, that alone isn't very constructive, you also have to find ways to show them any way out you may see, while not blaming them. You just use phrases like "Yeah, it sucks that guy/girl/company/tornado did that to you, it's really unfair... You know, if you tried kindness/wacking off less/kissing ass/building a storm shelter, it MIGHT make it better next time. It's that pits that you should have to, but maybe that's the price we pay"...
I've been accused of innapropriate honesty at times in my relationships, but I always saw relationships as being the place where you should err on the side of too much honesty if any.
When someone is upset, going through a crisis, that is NOT the time to be telling them everything you think they did wrong.
It's cruel, callous, and it shows a lack of concern for the person you're talking too. It also shows you don't care enough about them to bother to try to see what they're going through emotionally.
Lack of empathy is the primary symptom that the person you're talking to doesn't give a shit about you anymore. Many people will become unfeeling and cruel long before they actually decide to tell you to fuck off.
That's an odd message isn't it? "I still want to spend time with you, but don't bother asking me to be interested in you, what you're feeling, what's going on, or any of that. I'm just putting in my time so I don't feel bad about myself...".
Classic.
I've seent this kind of thing a thousand times, I've been used as a crisis counselor by damn near everyone around me, and 99% of them are gone the second their problems are gone.
For a long time I told myself I just had to bear it, that this was the price I paid for being the kind of person I wanted to be.
Then I got fed up and hid for awhile, only trying to help those that I truly considered my friends.
Then I found out that even they would do the same thing to me.
I guess I'm back to the original thought, I need to allow this to happen to me, in order to be the kind of person I want to be...
It's impossible not to become jaded, or even suspicious, it's just something you have to fight.
Well, I have A gift, and I'm not so sure it's a gift.
I'm a good counselor. People come to me when they have problems, to get support, find a way out, find some comisseration.
I never understood why it seems to be so rare, but it does. It only takes consideration, empathy, a little honesty (in the right places)... You just have to sympathize, tell the other person that it isn't their fault, agree that circumstances dealt them raw hand...
Of course, that alone isn't very constructive, you also have to find ways to show them any way out you may see, while not blaming them. You just use phrases like "Yeah, it sucks that guy/girl/company/tornado did that to you, it's really unfair... You know, if you tried kindness/wacking off less/kissing ass/building a storm shelter, it MIGHT make it better next time. It's that pits that you should have to, but maybe that's the price we pay"...
I've been accused of innapropriate honesty at times in my relationships, but I always saw relationships as being the place where you should err on the side of too much honesty if any.
When someone is upset, going through a crisis, that is NOT the time to be telling them everything you think they did wrong.
It's cruel, callous, and it shows a lack of concern for the person you're talking too. It also shows you don't care enough about them to bother to try to see what they're going through emotionally.
Lack of empathy is the primary symptom that the person you're talking to doesn't give a shit about you anymore. Many people will become unfeeling and cruel long before they actually decide to tell you to fuck off.
That's an odd message isn't it? "I still want to spend time with you, but don't bother asking me to be interested in you, what you're feeling, what's going on, or any of that. I'm just putting in my time so I don't feel bad about myself...".
Classic.
I've seent this kind of thing a thousand times, I've been used as a crisis counselor by damn near everyone around me, and 99% of them are gone the second their problems are gone.
For a long time I told myself I just had to bear it, that this was the price I paid for being the kind of person I wanted to be.
Then I got fed up and hid for awhile, only trying to help those that I truly considered my friends.
Then I found out that even they would do the same thing to me.
I guess I'm back to the original thought, I need to allow this to happen to me, in order to be the kind of person I want to be...
It's impossible not to become jaded, or even suspicious, it's just something you have to fight.
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