I'm that guy who makes references only a handful of people would get, and it's an interesting feeling.
When I get up, I listen to news podcasts, as I do when I'm alone at lunch, and when I'm doing something at work that doesn't require as much concentration. Even so, sometimes I blank. I'm even having some memory problems where I'm not as sharp at remembering what I've experienced and said than I've not.
But I know about Koeppen climates, North Dakota weather, and the population of Wyoming.
I could tell you about the seal they had to take off an airport runway in Utqiagvik sooner than I could that there, apparently a couple years ago, was a smash-though of a Chinese restaurant around the corner from my apartment and an armed altercation at the Kroger next door to it within the same month.
I know some world leaders' names a little more easily than I do my own constituency representatives.
But it's all okay. It's lonely, and I only slightly care, but it's okay.
Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts
26 October 2017
25 July 2013
Seriously, #DumpStoli? WHY?!
It wasn't until I was on my Twitter feed today that I'd noticed Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) had changed his avatar to behold his latest - and might I say very misguided - crusade, one called #DmupStoli.
Searching that hashtag, I came upon his original blog posting, which explained his rationale.
And I disagree with most of it, because the nature of it is simply, at least with the Stoli part of the crusade, that all bars and people should drop it purely on that because Stoli is Russian one should drop it.
WTF? I mean, the #DumpSochi part, I can understand. Russia, having agreed to be internationally welcoming by virtue of agreeing to host another Olympics has made an implicit communication with the world that it would accept all people in the spirit of harmony and international union. Recently legalizing effective discrimination against any amount of people, GLBT members included, goes against that spirit.
Going against any number of private companies just because they come from a country which decided to enact certain legislation makes about as much sense in my eyes as Boston as a whole effectively refusing to allow Tamerlan Tsarnaev a burial within Massachusetts. That was another bit of ire at the backhanded twofaceness the United States can have.
Imagine if there were somewhere in the United States that still refused to bury someone in a specific place just because that person were, say, Jewish, Black, or Japanese? That was what happened to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and what's now happening because Stolichnaya happens to be a Russian company. Not a Russian government company. A Russian company.
Don't refuse something based on its proximity to something "society" seems to dislike or that someone says shouldn't be.
I say one questions separately Russia the country and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's actions as what are reprehensible, and treat Russian vodka the private, unaffiliated company product and Tamerlan Tsarnaev the human being as private, unaffiliated company products undeserving of prosecution and a human being deserving a proper burial like any human being should.
I've thus decided - not that he would give two shits because he's so high on himself and his ego that he doesn't care what a person thinks anyway - to unsubscribe to Dan Savage's podcast. His decision to discriminate against a series of products just because they happen to be of a country - and not for a country - that discriminates is as unjust and backward as the people who thought Jewish people, Black people, and Japanese people were not human beings and thus exploitable and worthy of abuse.
I say #DropDanSavage, if that's how he's going to be.
Searching that hashtag, I came upon his original blog posting, which explained his rationale.
And I disagree with most of it, because the nature of it is simply, at least with the Stoli part of the crusade, that all bars and people should drop it purely on that because Stoli is Russian one should drop it.
WTF? I mean, the #DumpSochi part, I can understand. Russia, having agreed to be internationally welcoming by virtue of agreeing to host another Olympics has made an implicit communication with the world that it would accept all people in the spirit of harmony and international union. Recently legalizing effective discrimination against any amount of people, GLBT members included, goes against that spirit.
Going against any number of private companies just because they come from a country which decided to enact certain legislation makes about as much sense in my eyes as Boston as a whole effectively refusing to allow Tamerlan Tsarnaev a burial within Massachusetts. That was another bit of ire at the backhanded twofaceness the United States can have.
Imagine if there were somewhere in the United States that still refused to bury someone in a specific place just because that person were, say, Jewish, Black, or Japanese? That was what happened to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and what's now happening because Stolichnaya happens to be a Russian company. Not a Russian government company. A Russian company.
Don't refuse something based on its proximity to something "society" seems to dislike or that someone says shouldn't be.
I say one questions separately Russia the country and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's actions as what are reprehensible, and treat Russian vodka the private, unaffiliated company product and Tamerlan Tsarnaev the human being as private, unaffiliated company products undeserving of prosecution and a human being deserving a proper burial like any human being should.
I've thus decided - not that he would give two shits because he's so high on himself and his ego that he doesn't care what a person thinks anyway - to unsubscribe to Dan Savage's podcast. His decision to discriminate against a series of products just because they happen to be of a country - and not for a country - that discriminates is as unjust and backward as the people who thought Jewish people, Black people, and Japanese people were not human beings and thus exploitable and worthy of abuse.
I say #DropDanSavage, if that's how he's going to be.
02 July 2010
Follow Your Road
I was trying to read Max Weber's Protestantism and wok ethic book in a comfortable position. I'd been trying to read it for about an hour in various positions, and it would be either that I could only read comfortably through my left eye - itself a feat quite uncomfortable because I'm accustomed to reading with both eyes - or I could not sit a certain way for very long. I resorted to one I should not have; I laid down on my stomach to read. I soon found myself asleep.
I look around and I'm in a neighbourhood that seems familiar, but I don't know it. I begin to walk. There are houses all about, but no people. It's a film noir look. The trees have no leaves, and some of them are battered and broken. None of them have substantial trunks; they're just skeletons. I keep walking.
I begin to think that I need to be at church for a meeting. It's not the church I've been attending, but one I attended when I was a child through when I went to university. I set back out. Next thing I know, I'm on the highway in my car. I don't know how I got my car, but I do, and I'm on the ramp leading to the next stage of where I need to go.
The light turns green, apparently, though I don't see it turn green. I drive slowly forward, because I'm waiting for people who are turning left, while I have to drive forward. The ramp is under construction. I notice while on the slow procession the time is 7:50. I had to be at church at 7:00, and it will take a little while to get there based on my "current" location.
I continue still. I eventually make it to the highway. Five minutes in my drive, I notice two things. The first is I'm no longer in my car, but driving an ATV. I've never owned one, and I don't know why I have one, but I'm on one. I continue. The second is there is about to be no more paved road. I realise this much too late, as there is an orange, unmarked, thin, plastic cordon drawn above my head by several feet that I cross, and I hit white gravel. I'm thinking I shouldn't be here. "They obviously put that cord up for a reason. I shouldn't be here."
I keep driving as I see a few pickup trucks in the distance. Other people have made this "mistake" too, so it's okay to keep going. I come to several placed where the road depresses severely and I go flying over the depression. After a few more of these, I see an exit branching/curving to the right. I stop the ATV and pick it up by a handlebar, running to the exit to see where I am. I see a sign saying the exit leads 3 miles to Interstate 3. (Note: I'm just now looking this up. I'd never read this article before, so I had no idea there even was an Interstate 3, much less that it doesn't yet exist or that it will be in Georgia. Funny how dreams are.) There are several other road markers to what the exit leads: United States Highway 475 (with a red shield), and three more colour-shielded roads. I decide this is not where I need to exit, and so take my ATV and go back to the main highway.
I keep driving, and it becomes harder to see. My eyes can't keep open as well. Eventually, I have to stop again, but in the middle of the highway. I know I need to continue, but I can't because I can't see. "Just think about where you need to be and it'll happen," says something in my head. The next thing I know is I'm face down on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. I can see again. I look up and I see Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow. I'm looking at Dorothy looking around and marvelling at the scenery, and somehow I become Dorothy. A few seconds later, the Tin Woodsman appears, and I instinctively know he needs a heart.
A voice in my head goes, "You see? You didn't need to drive any further. All you needed to do was think about where you needed to be, and it came to be. That's why your eyes weren't working."
Then I think about how I'm to get home, and the way to do that is to be selfless. I can't think about what I want, but what others do. I need to make wishes on behalf of the Scarecrow, Lion and Woodsman, because that's what I need to do instead of wish for myself. I don't need to because my mind will take care of whatever I want.
I wake up on my stomach.
...
I look around and I'm in a neighbourhood that seems familiar, but I don't know it. I begin to walk. There are houses all about, but no people. It's a film noir look. The trees have no leaves, and some of them are battered and broken. None of them have substantial trunks; they're just skeletons. I keep walking.
I begin to think that I need to be at church for a meeting. It's not the church I've been attending, but one I attended when I was a child through when I went to university. I set back out. Next thing I know, I'm on the highway in my car. I don't know how I got my car, but I do, and I'm on the ramp leading to the next stage of where I need to go.
The light turns green, apparently, though I don't see it turn green. I drive slowly forward, because I'm waiting for people who are turning left, while I have to drive forward. The ramp is under construction. I notice while on the slow procession the time is 7:50. I had to be at church at 7:00, and it will take a little while to get there based on my "current" location.
I continue still. I eventually make it to the highway. Five minutes in my drive, I notice two things. The first is I'm no longer in my car, but driving an ATV. I've never owned one, and I don't know why I have one, but I'm on one. I continue. The second is there is about to be no more paved road. I realise this much too late, as there is an orange, unmarked, thin, plastic cordon drawn above my head by several feet that I cross, and I hit white gravel. I'm thinking I shouldn't be here. "They obviously put that cord up for a reason. I shouldn't be here."
I keep driving as I see a few pickup trucks in the distance. Other people have made this "mistake" too, so it's okay to keep going. I come to several placed where the road depresses severely and I go flying over the depression. After a few more of these, I see an exit branching/curving to the right. I stop the ATV and pick it up by a handlebar, running to the exit to see where I am. I see a sign saying the exit leads 3 miles to Interstate 3. (Note: I'm just now looking this up. I'd never read this article before, so I had no idea there even was an Interstate 3, much less that it doesn't yet exist or that it will be in Georgia. Funny how dreams are.) There are several other road markers to what the exit leads: United States Highway 475 (with a red shield), and three more colour-shielded roads. I decide this is not where I need to exit, and so take my ATV and go back to the main highway.
I keep driving, and it becomes harder to see. My eyes can't keep open as well. Eventually, I have to stop again, but in the middle of the highway. I know I need to continue, but I can't because I can't see. "Just think about where you need to be and it'll happen," says something in my head. The next thing I know is I'm face down on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. I can see again. I look up and I see Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow. I'm looking at Dorothy looking around and marvelling at the scenery, and somehow I become Dorothy. A few seconds later, the Tin Woodsman appears, and I instinctively know he needs a heart.
A voice in my head goes, "You see? You didn't need to drive any further. All you needed to do was think about where you needed to be, and it came to be. That's why your eyes weren't working."
Then I think about how I'm to get home, and the way to do that is to be selfless. I can't think about what I want, but what others do. I need to make wishes on behalf of the Scarecrow, Lion and Woodsman, because that's what I need to do instead of wish for myself. I don't need to because my mind will take care of whatever I want.
...
I wake up on my stomach.
27 October 2008
Political Dashboard
2008 Presidential Election on Yahoo! News: A prognostication... It's rather interesting to just go through the map, thinking about it all, taking it all in...
Seven days left and then we'll all be able to put this year and a half to rest.
Thank God.
Seven days left and then we'll all be able to put this year and a half to rest.
Thank God.
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