The Occupy Wall Street Movement

I have to speak briefly in the defense of some of the uncertain press that has come out with relation to Occupy Wall Street.  This isn't a defense saying they are accurate in their portrayals.  It's more of a defense to say that I can understand why they are reporting the way they are, even if you take out the bias of a corporate backing.

Most of them probably do not spend a large amount of time at the protests.  They go down there, try to get a story in a few hours, and then leave.  That is how most events are reported on.  That is simply not how you can report on Occupy though.  Occupy really is something that you have to immerse yourself in to fully understand what is happening.

What Occupy Wall Street really is, is the development of a community, and people working together.  It's NOT a protest in the general definition of the word.  It might have started off as a protest but it has evolved so far from that point.  It is also something that is very foreign to the press because, quite honestly, America has not seen this kind of interest in politics, ethics, or economics in quite a while.  We kind of fell asleep.  The years since the 2008 crash woke us up to realize "wait, what's going on here?"

If I were to describe the movement in one phrase it would be this:
People are being inspired, and challenged, to realize that whether or not they talk about what's going on in their country, and other countries around the world, it will effect them no matter what.  It's really quite remarkable.

Occupy Wall Street is not simply a protest of demands.  It is a protest of complacency.  It is a community which has finally realized, "we're all in this together, and if we don't act fast and start getting active in our country, we're are REALLY going to be in trouble."

The reason I'm putting this forward is because, for quite a while, (after the first) week I didn't even know what the fuck it was.  I came because I saw a chance to protest and other people interested in a protest.  After a week I had no clue what was going on, but I knew that I liked being there.  I was refreshed by the idea that some people were finally taking interest in the issues again, and in a very open, public atmosphere as well.  I was often asked the question, "what now, what are you guys doing?"  Pretty much every time my answer was: "I'm not sure, but what I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt is that it's getting people talking again."  I didn't really understand the significance of this until recently.

What you are dealing with at Zuccotti Park is NOT a protest at all.  There is protesting involved of course, and that element will never leave it.  The idea behind Occupy Wall Street though has developed into something else far more impressive.  It has developed into an idea to try and fix what has gone wrong, to figure out what the fuck happened to let it get so wrong, and to get active again.

What has made me so proud of it though is something else: It is populated by some of the most intelligent, resourceful, resilient, and well-intentioned people I have EVER met in my life and I consider it an honor to be part of such a beautiful thing.  By the way, I don't see it ending any time soon either and I'm glad.  I can't imagine how they'll make it through the winter, but I've already seen some incredibly amazing things happen in just one month, and I have a feeling we've all only seen a very small glimmer of what this group is truly capable of.  Keep an eye open, we're watching history... smelling it too lol

I went to a ranger game a while back.

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

This is important shit. Scientists in Canada have found the cure to cancer. American pharmaceutical companies are not investing in it because the drug cannot be patented. Basically, they can't make money so they don't care.

I can almost guarantee that, should this drug be all it's cracked up to be, the number of people in the UK and Canada (where universal healthcare is rampant, and pharmaceutical companies don't hold all the power) with cancer may soon drop to zero.

Red Riding Hood

So, Red Riding Hood... The Big Bad Wolf does not strive for a challenge. Either Little Red Riding Hood is like 5, (in which case why is she walking through the forest alone) or she's retarded. Either way I think her parents are very irresponsible... Or their Spartans and want to test her survival skills.  Regardless, how does she not notice that there is a wolf in place of her grandmother. I mean it's not like a wolf can recline in a chair. Better yet, I don't think grandma usually smells as bad as forest animal.

I suppose I'll throw the wolf the bone here and say that it could talk.  Aside from that though, it has paws... WITH CLAWS!!!!  I'm disappointed in Miss Riding Hood for not being more perceptive.

Skynet

Terminator 3 was a hit movie.  The main issue that was stated in the movie, for why the machines took over, was that Skynet became self-aware.  I want to ask:  Did it really?  Let's analyze...

Becoming self-aware was what made Skynet "realize" that humans would try to terminate it and this triggered the computer system's Adrenal Gland and it went Hitler on the humans.  Did it really become self-aware though?  The purpose of Skynet was to create a computer program that could recognize a potential virus and destroy it before it had its chance to commence havoc upon the network that the humans used.

At the same time though, if Skynet's purpose was to kill off forces which were detrimental it may not have been going very far out of its original programming.  Excuse me I'm going to get really "tree-hugger" now.  Humans do have tendency to destroy everything.  Agent Smith (Matrix) himself said we are like a virus.  Perhaps Skynet just realized the true nature of humans when it was activated.  I'm sure it was programmed with a great amounts of historical data.  It really may have been keeping to its original programming.  You never know.

On that note... I think I'll go watch Avatar.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Okay, flaw in either scriptwriting, or in logic of the universe.  The TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The concept behind the show was that there was only one slayer born to every generation.  Once that one slayer died another would take over.  This means though that there is only one slayer active at a time.  Furthermore, only one slayer active at a time and only in one place on earth at a time.  So this would mean that if the Slayer is in California there would not be any vampires in, say... Portugal, or Hungary, or Iceland, or Venezuela or even Arizona?  I highly doubt this, but I never saw Buffy traveling out of California to hunt.  What gives?  So much for the laws of mysticism giving a crap about humanity.

Giga Pets are still hungry.

I had fun with Adobe Illustrator.  This photo is called "Giga Pets running though a spray-painted field"

System Preferences

I'm looking at the "system preferences" button on my mac toolbar. I believe there is irony in the icon: The two bottom gears may intersect below the icon's picture. If so the mechanism in this icon for system preferences does not work; if the larger wheel turns the two smaller ones by way of gears: If the left bottom wheel turns clockwise, the larger wheel would go counter-clockwise, and the right bottom wheel would turn clockwise as well. Two intersecting gears cannot turn the same direction. Therefore, ironically, system preferences might not work lol.  Curious.

Confrontation at McDonald's

(read, so pathetic it's funny)

After checking out an amp in The Bronx I had to kill 3 hours time before going to Penny's Open Mike.  So I bought myself some pizza at 2 Bros. on St. Marks and then found a McDonald's to sit down and kill time in.  What went down in the McDonald's was too pathetic to not write about.

As I entered the McDonald's there was a group of 5 East Village Punkish looking kids sitting around one table. They were clearly homeless, but being it was freezing outside it made sense for them to be sitting there so whatever.  They must have been late 20's early 30's but the people who were most interesting were the boyfriend and girlfriend sitting on the other side of the restaurant from them by the window.

First the boyfriend got up, walked past the homeless group, who were thumb-wrestling quietly at the time, to the bathroom.  He came back within a minute or so and then his girlfriend went to the bathroom.  As she came back upon she reaching her seat one of the homeless men turns around and asks, "Yo, why'd you walk past me so fast?"  An odd question but whatever.  The girl's response was "um...because I could?"  Few more words were exchanged (nothing terribly offensive or threatening) and the man who first asked the girlfriend the question said to her "You know what, you're just a broke-ass chick."  Too this statement the girlfriend responds, insulted but confidently, "I'm from Roosevelt Island."

At this point, sensing the awkward situation, one of the homeless men addresses the Chick from Roosevelt Island and says "Hey, don't worry about him, he's an idiot.  You know what the best part about hanging out with a retard is... You always look smart by comparison."  I chuckled quietly at that, but it relaxed the homeless man who had first asked the question of the girlfriend.  It did not relax the Chick from Roosevelt Island who'd just been a called "a broke-ass chick."

She started getting heated, quietly, and saying to herself "Don't call me a broke-ass chick.  I'm not a broke-ass chick motherfucker."  (This is not dramatized by the way).  Roosevelt Island Chick then addresses the homeless man who'd first addressed her and says "I ain't no broke-ass chick.  I'm from Roosevelt Island.  Do you hear that?  That's an Island!  Island motherfucker.  Roosevelt ISLAND!"

The muttering now becomes slightly louder from the homeless group but they are largely minding their own business.  At this point I decide to leave and Roosevelt Island Chick is still heated about the situation and is vocal about her feelings as well.  A female in the group of homeless people now has a very shocked look on her face in reaction to Roosevelt Island Chick's behavior.  As I leave one of the homeless people says to another "This chick thinks she's in a coffee shop."  Regardless of how much sense that makes it was as if he'd said "This chick's going overboard and needs to relax."

I figured I'd seen the last of the situation as I'm waiting at the corner for the traffic to stop.  I was wrong in my assumption.  The next thing I hear is Roosevelt Island Chick's BOYFRIEND screaming, at the top of his lungs, "You're just a broke-ass nigga!!" as he and his girlfriend are leaving the McDonald's.  They walk for a few feet, past one or two stores, and as Roosevelt Island Chick is trying valiantly to calm down her boyfriend, he turns around and runs back to the McDonald's screaming "You're just a broke-ass nigga!!  You're just a broke-ass nigga!!"  He gets to the McDonald's window and keeps screaming "You're just a broke-ass nigga!!" as he opens the door to go back in.  Roosevelt Island Chick now shows the first signs of NOT being spoiled as she forcibly pulls him away saying "Christian, christian STOP! Christian! Let it go."

She gets him away from the McDonald's and Christian is no longer screaming "Broke-ass nigga!!" at the homeless man.  Now he's doing it out loud, and at everyone else in the street.  "Broke-ass nigga!!! Broke-ass nigga!!!"

Never before have the homeless people appeared more logical, classy, and sophisticated in comparison to people with means.

Oh, one last thing: Roosevelt Island Chick, and her boyfriend, were both white.  Furthermore, the only black person involved in this confrontation was the homeless person who first asked "Why'd you walk past me so fast?"

The bible... as a comic book?

WARNING!!!!!! THIS POST IS GUARANTEED TO OFFEND SOMEONE!!!!!  It is not my intention to offend anyone.  Offense however will be inevitable as the subject of this post is a graphic novel... OF THE BIBLE.  I personally do not have any quarrels with any person who belongs to any religious faith.  This is so long as you do not hurt anyone, impose your beliefs upon anyone, or treat anyone else with disrespect because they do belong to a different faith.  That said, if you take offense to anything which is moderately sacrilegious, but in truth, all in good fun DO NOT READ THIS!!!!!

Consider yourselves warned.  If you continue to read this and disregard my warning, it's your own fault for not closing the blog window; just like how you could simply change the television channel to keep your kids from hearing curse words.  Curse words which you yourselves say on a daily basis repeatedly, and very likely within in your child's earshot.  All that said I've warned you enough... Lets have some fun.

So a few weeks ago my dad came home with something that had me laughing my ass off.  It was an illustrated Graphic Novel, but of The Bible.  The Book of Genesis.  Here is the front cover:

I believe this is a picture of when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden for eating an apple and realizing that thought was fun.  They played pranks on God and it pissed him off.  Being completely honest though, in the Old Testament there's really not very much that doesn't piss God off.  Can you say anger issues?  I digress.

Now for a look at a given page within the book.  If I might say so I'll credit the animator for nailing just about every line in the bible with a picture perfectly.  Kudos to you Mr. Crumb (I'm serious about that btw):

The words are blurry but that's irrelevant.  The fact is that it's really quite dead-on.  With not a woman in sight who has power in any shape or form... but I digress... have I pissed you off yet?  You can always close the window and stop reading at this point if I have :)

Now for an illustration of God creating the heavens and the earth...

Once again, not bad.  It's well drawn, God is an old white man who looks like the Greek God Zeus from whom his image was taken... tee hee.  You see the void which represents the emptiness of the universe prior to the Big Bang (oh shit, my bad, I wont bring science into this again).  Now for a close up of the words in the top right-hand corner.  How close are they to the actual bible's words?

Again, well done, word for word from the bible.  God should really sue this guy for copyright infringement.

Okay, since we've finished that part we go to the juicy parts, oh yes there are juicy parts... TITS!!!!

Yes, and BEAUTIFULLY animated tits at that.  Complete with the man from whom who she was "created," and the words spoken by the man from whom she was created... He has tits as well to answer why I didn't just leave it with only Eve.  Granted, useless tits which don't give milk, but tits nevertheless.  Oh, the differences between genders in human anatomy... Shit, I just referred the scientific study of human anatomy.  I have to learn to not talk of sin... Oh well... MORE TITS!!!!

That is a lovely body.  That is also the snake tempting her with towards the Tree of Knowledge.  Note that the snake has two legs and two feet.  Kind of like a dinosaur, did the creation museum in the south actually get something right?!!  No, they didn't, because nothing in this book really happened... Kudos once again to the animator though.  Now it's time for the best picture in this book, behold:

SEX!!!!  This is before Eve went to the Tree of Knowledge mind you.  Putting aside chronology though, this is awesome.  Quite frankly had they taught me about this in Hebrew School instead of the Holocaust... I might still be Jewish and not an Atheist.  Though I might just be an atheist now anyway since I decided to benefit from the gifts of the Tree of Knowledge and analyze things.

Okay enough of the photos back to the front cover:

Right above god there is a little white bubble.  Let's see what it says?

Ahh yes, because the images of sex and a naked chick were too graphic for people too see.  Oh and they were so pleasantly graphic :)

It might also be a recommendation for supervision because you don't want a child to ask questions or wonder how certain things in the bible happened.  God forbid (hehe) we do that we'll just be propagating the sins of Adam and Eve when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.  At the same time though, had they not eaten from said tree, we would not have invented computers; or even built a church or synagogue to pray in since that requires math and calculating.  We all know that God loves it when you pray to him though... so is he a hypocrite, or just benefiting from our mistake?  Oh well, by a show of hands (or dislikes) how many people have I pissed off by now?  You could have easily just closed the window mind you if you were in fact offended.

There is also another little notice on the front cover on the bottom left covering God's feet:

Well it certainly is graphically depicted.  There is also certainly nothing left out from the bible's literature from what I have thus far seen... well, except maybe basic logic...  I'll let that slide though for comedic purposes.

I suppose the only other disclaimer which Mr. Crumb (kudos again) could have posted on the cover is this:

"WARNING: The following events which have been graphically depicted may not have occurred in real time... or at all..."

As a general notice to anyone who read through this entire blog despite my disclaimer and was still offended by it despite my warnings I have but one thing to say to you.  "With the kindest heart and most profound respect for all people no matter what their religious affiliations, if you have been offended by this blog post, I think the best course of action would be for you to simply... develop a sense of humor."

Thanks for reading, I expect hate mail in the coming days :D

Superman

So superman's heat vision looks like a red laser beam coming from his eye.  I have to ask though, when he fires out the beam does he see normally?  Does everything take on a reddish glow?  Do his eyes feel warm after a while?  What's the deal?

He fires out the laser beam and it looks like the beam is coming from his pupil.  Scientifically, this is where light enters the eye.  If he's firing out a red laser from the only point where light can enter does everything that he sees then take on a reddish tint (like it would if you wore sunglasses, except just darker with sunglasses)?  I'd say it's either that or he gets tunnel vision and just sees what's at the end of the beam and everything before that is like looking down a long tube that has a red circular wall.  If he just sees a long tube, would that be like the James Bond movies when Bond walks into the "gun barrel" from the right-hand side of the screen and shoots a bullet?   I wonder.

Also, with regards to his flying, every time he saves the day by catching a giant object and landing it on the ground, is he still in flight when he lands?  I'm asking because when he does land, he's holding a very heavy object which would normally make some imprint even if it just rested on the ground.  Therefore, is he still flying?  He does land pretty smoothly.

Last point now.  In the original superman movies when Lois Lane dies and superman turns back time to bring her back to life; do you remember how he turns back time?  He flies around the earth so fast that he makes it spin in reverse.  In doing so he probably caused mass chaos throughout the planet as everything had to stop short and then turn the other way.  The earth's momentum would have been transferred into every building and person when the planet stopped.  Buildings would have toppled over and people would have been thrown off their feet god knows how far.  To add to that I'm sure he would have caused some volcano eruptions as the Earth's crust may have switched direction but what about the large layer of liquid magma beneath the surface.  Talk about a massive shift in liquid current.  He really should have slowed the planet down more gradually is all I'm saying.  All for a woman too.  She was not worth the lives of 6 billion people.  No way.

On a different note why hasn't he gotten a pilot license?

Medicare is DYNOMYTE!!!

So I was in a class a few months ago and for some reason the teacher mentioned that a common medication for the elderly who have heart problems is Nitroglycerin.  It comes in tablet form and they wear cases of it around their necks often.  Here's the catch... Nitroglycerin is dynamite.

So here's the weird part.  We give elderly who have heart problems dynamite to ingest to jump start their heart.  Now you know why they often say they feel young again.  They just popped a pill and all of a sudden their hearts exploded into a frenzy of palpitation.  Just like I get whenever I look at hot chicks.

Here's the sinister part, the government is essentially exploding elderly hearts.  It's no wonder so many elderly people are Republicans, both love ammunition.  Except the only difference is that Republicans shoot with it and the elderly have it inside of their bodies.  Can you imagine being inside gun powder when it explodes and sends a bullet flying.  The environment must be wild.  Now imagine having that inside you, that's what it's like for the elderly.  Whenever they feel like they're gonna die they just pop a pill, and an explosion which would normally kill anyone else, saves their lives.

Now imagine overdosing.  Every elderly man would become Hugh Hefner.  I don't mean loaded with 50 sexy playmates around him, I mean horny as hell.  Is there Nitroglycerin in Viagra?  If so, I understand why it works so well.  Furthermore, if it gets into your sperm could you have hyperactive children.  Oh My God I have discovered where ADD and ADHD come from.

Why facebook succeeded.

I read an article recently in National Geographic that talked about how there are now about 7 billion people in the world.  It made me wonder: if 500 Million of them are on facebook what the hell made it stand out so much more than sites like myspace, youtube, or anything else?

I thought about how World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and other games have people from different parts of the world playing against each other via internet.  The circumstance was still different though because if you're not a gamer, like me, you're not connected with that network.  With facebook everyone is connected regardless of their interests... What the fuck?

It pretty much hit me then that all you really have to know in order to be connected, is how to type and use a mouse/touchpad.  Nothing else.  You literally need absolutely no skills in order to have a profile and be a friend.  Even the kid who does nothing but sit in front of his computer all day and drool can use it.  This means that even the kid who gets called a loser for being boring by the other kids who get called losers for gaming all day can use the site.  Facebook is like "wacky-wall-walker," but for the internet.  If you don't know what wacky-wall-walker is, here is a picture:

If you've never seen that before the way it works is you throw it at a wall, it sticks to the wall, but it's weight makes it roll down the wall slowly like it's walking.  Facebook is that for social networking.  It's really just there and does nothing.

So, whereas with World of Warcraft or Call of Duty you actually have to develop skill as a gamer; with facebook the concepts of creativity, discipline, or the human potential to accomplish anything at all noteworthy over the course of your entire life are not required.

Then I had a further thought: Of course something that simple could easily draw a decent number of people, but in the end it would just be a fad like the Wacky-Wall-Walker.  What drew half-a-fucking-billion people to this one damn website?  I figured this out from talking to my dad, who still doesn't care for facebook.  Here it is (btw, if I sound like a tool for facebook at this point... I don't care):

When you're on facebook you say random crap (most of it completely inconsequential), put photos or videos up, then anyone who is "friends" with you can look at your post and comment back.  This leads to a larger discussion and, in theory, ends up creating it's own chat room that is abandoned when the next pointless comment, photo, or video is put up.  Mind you any one of these discussions could start off with a comment about astrophysics and can turn into a discussion about pubic hair by the end (I'm sure it's happened).  All in all facebook is nothing more than a bunch of people sitting around in a room talking.  Essentially, Zuckerberg found a way to put a living room on the internet.  Better yet, he created an arcade that doesn't serve food.  It has the social aspect of one, and the aspect where you pay for credits (arcade games) in some apps.  You could also say that whereas in real life we have "Mallrats" hanging around shopping centers, facebook gives people a place to be "Internet Rats."

Just think, if I'm jealous that Zuckerberg is now a billionaire for making such a simple site, and I have no programming knowledge, imagine how a web developer must feel...

So finally, at the risk of sounding like total tool for facebook (btw if I do I don't care because this fascinates me); I will close by saying that I even though facebook will not last forever as nothing ever does, it will probably be remembered, in the long run, as the site that brought the world, and the internet closer together.  Every business or website you go to these days has some link to facebook.  It's kind of like the saying "all roads lead to Rome" during the time of the Roman Empire.  With this connectivity across the internet facebook pretty much brought the internet to adulthood.  I don't care how cheesy that sounds it's true.

Dank and Push

I made both of these videos a while ago and just recently realized that I never put them up on this site.

The acoustic one is called Dank.  It was written during a very dark period in my life but I love how great music can emerge from such shit holes.  It's a little bit more structured than my other songs have been, meaning closer resemblance to a pop format.  This isn't a reflection of any direction I intend on going in it's just one song that I was feeling at the time.  It also has a good deal more lyrics than usual.  Check it out.
Dank

This second song is called Push.  It's the third song I ever wrote I believe and it's an electric offering.  It has no lyrics but that's irrelevant because I'm using an effects pedal rig to color the sound and it kicks ass the way it turns out.  The effects really add a lot of dynamics to the piece.  Check it.  You wont be sorry!!!
Push

Overthrow Big Oil

So I saw this ad for HSBC Bank on the train: "0.3% of Saharan Solar Energy could power Europe.  Do you see a world of potential?  We do."

I'm going to go ahead and say that no, I do not see a world of potential.  I see a world filled with neglect and apathy on the part of anyone with money.  If 0.3% percent could power Europe, it may take a little more than 1% (I'm speculating) to power the entire world.  Mind you this would be powering the globe with a renewable energy source that does not maintain a lingering dilemma of "how much longer do we have before our reserves run out?"

Now to discuss the apathy and neglect I just mentioned.  I'm not directing this at the vast populace of this planet because it requires a great deal of wealth in order to create such an industry.  Wealth for investments in solar panels, wiring, computers, scientists, etc...  Without money none of these elements can be financed and the project would never even set foot on the ground (let alone get off it).

Last year we saw a massive oil catastrophe in the Gulf Coast courtesy of BP.  As a result of this BP has been forced (thankfully) to compensate that region with billions of dollars.  I commend the US government for seeing this through.  Otherwise we have long been concerned about the planet's fossil fuel reserves and just how much of them we have left, we also have seen proof of the fact that oil contributes to global warming...and war too?  Nuclear power plants, another energy source, always run the risk of a meltdown.  Saharan Energy is a nonpolluting gold mine of infinite supply (the sun) waiting to be tapped, it would ironically use global warming (it's in a desert) to power the globe, and the only thing it might melt down is a chocolate bar.

The only reason no one has tried to invest in this idea is because of politics, the power of the oil companies themselves, and to some extent the political instability of the continent which by the way might done away with if this would pursued.  I seriously doubt that I am the first person to ever think of this; considering the fact that solar power has been known for a while as a viable energy source.  Furthermore I can almost guarantee that this statistic is not a new one either.  Something with the significance of 0.3% powering Europe does not just spring up for the first time in an HSBC Bank ad.

Therefore I ask, why has this not been pursued?  All you need is one wealthy person to take the reigns of the "Saharan Solar Energy Project" and he/she could potentially become the world's first quadrillionaire.  Mind you that's an 18 digit number.  Yes I am aware that quadrillionaire is an absurd level of wealth to suggest, at the same time though; if it is possible to fuel the entire globe through the use of said industry, quadrillionaire might actually be plausible.  I can also give a confident assurance that a new industry would not destroy any homes since research dictates the region to have the lowest population density of any other on earth.

All these things considered I will now react to HSBC Bank's question:

Do you see a problem?  I do.

Perfect Murder Weapon

In honor of the snow I will post a description of the perfect murder weapon.  An icicle.  It can impale you in the head, stab you in the heart (or any other part of the body).  Then it melts away leaving nothing but a hole AND… there are no fingerprints.