Best of the Decade

Best Pictures of the Decade

The privately run Federal Reserve spent more money in a year then the annual GDP of the entire nation...in secret.




The Hubble Telescope trained it's lens on a dark section of space, 1/10th the size of the moon. Galaxies with billions of stars were there for discovery. Amazing.

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Dec 26, 2004 a Tsunami created a 30 meter wave in Asia and claimed the lives of over 200,000 people in 11 countries.

This poor soul made his choice. Burn or jump.

Disgraceful.

"I hear you, the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon". The rally cry that began two wars.

Feb 1, 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry.

The small Palestine boy armed with a rock opposes an Israeli tank. He was later shot and killed.

Shock and Awe. Those three words no longer hold the same meaning as originally intended.

There isn't a person of a certain age alive today that does not remember this day. It was as if everything wasn't going to be alright for the first time...and we were scared in a very elemental way.

The setting sun....on Mars.

.

5 Best Movies

.

The Incredibles

Wedding Crashers

Gladiator

Y tu Mama Tambien

Barbarian Invasions

.

.

5 Best Athletes

.

Tiger Woods

Roger Federer

Lance Armstrong

Kobe Bryant

Tom Brady

.

.

5 Best Tech

.

Google

iPod

Facebook

WiFi

DVR

.

.

5 Biggest Stories

.

Browning of America. In 30 years white people will be a minority, most likely in perpetuity.

The Marketing of Obama. Some of the slickest branding since Ronald Reagan's campaign and massive outlays on TV elected the first Black President.

Uncle Sam takes over. Bailouts for Wallstreet and takeovers for GM and Chrysler. Never has so much money been spent so jarringly...except for...

The Secret Fed. $1.5 Trillion in TARP spending by the Government was peanuts compared to the $12 Trillion spent by an agency with no oversight that is privately controlled. We haven’t even begun to feel it’s affect.

WalMart. The retail chain became a retail juggernaut that makes gobs of money when the economy is good...or bad.

.

.

3 Things We Never Knew We Needed

.

Red Bull

YouTube

Wikipedia

.

.

5 Biggest Stock Winners

.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc +7,434% Keurig and gourmet coffee. What a combo.

Hansen Natural Corporation +6,455%. Energy drinks

Terra Nitrogen Company +6,156%. Fertilizer so a tomato only looks like a tomato

Southwestern Energy Corp +5,411%. Natural Gas is a hot commodity

Amedysis,Inc +4,452%. Health Services for the aging Boomers

.

.

5 Most Influential

.

George W Bush- Pre-emptive war was added to our lexicon

Osama Bin Laden- The face that launched the next wave of Imperialism

Ben Bernake- Current Federal Reserve Chairman and the most powerful man in a Global Economy ever. No one has spent more in the history of the world in so short a span. Did I mention in secret? Ok well I just did again.

Steve Jobs. From Pixar to iPods he is selling what the masses want. Style and substance carry the day.

L. Page and S. Brin. Google them. Oh wait they are Google.

.

.

5 Best in Science

.

Large Hadron Collider- The largest and most expensive demolition derby for protons ever.

Climate Change- Human causal or not it is a big story.

Stem Cell Research- Holds a possible key for much that ails us

Human Genome Project- Perhaps someday we’ll can scan a new date for a “pass” or “fail”

Ardi Hominid- Another ancestral link to Human Evolution. Can Creationists really believe the Earth is 6000 years old still?!

.

.

5 Best TV Shows

.

Six Feet Under

Family Guy

The Daily Show

Lost

Sopranos

.

.

3 Best of YouTube

.

Dick in the Box

2 Girls 1 Cup- If you haven’t seen it don’t. It the name of all things good and decent. Don’t. Consider yourself warned.

Lonely Girl- Dorks unite ... and fall in love.

.

.

Most Impactful Deaths

.

Pat Tillman

The NFL footballer/atheist that gave up millions to fight in Afghanistan. Only to be shot in the head 3 times by reported “friendly fire”. His clothes and notebook were burned by fellow soldiers in attempt to cover-up the cause of death. Tillman’s thoughts and grievances shared with his family about the expansion into Iraq were lost in that notebook. He went from a recruiting nightmare scenario to a re-branded patriot hero used to sound a call to service.

A world that more than ever...became about image/perception and no lie was too offensive.

.

Neda Agha-Soltan

27 year old Iranian woman was protesting the Islamic regimes fraudulent election and was shot dead in the streets of Tehran. Bystanders videotaped the incident and she became the face of injustice. Iran was not a country of Evil doers. It is made up of people like us...and right and wrong is not a punch line it is a brutal truth.

.

.

THE BANK SWAGGA Blog wishes for all of you in the coming years...the best decade of your lives.

.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

Spreading "Democracy"

I saw Avatar last night and I won’t mess about. It is Epic.

This fantasy movie has painstaking created a fully realized world so you can revel in your suspension of disbelief. The 3D is awe inducing and aids greatly in immersing you in a place that becomes very real.

It’s also a brilliant piece of business. More and more people are opting out of movie lines and smelly theatres when 50” plasmas adorn the walls of their comfortable homes. However you almost “have” to see this in a full size theatre to get the true affect. The box office will continue to reflect this I’m sure.

Now a lot of critics are complaining about the script and I am with them on that. We have heard Cameron wrote Avatar 12 years ago but back then he was clearly missing the archetype he ended up leaning tremendously on as a foil for the movie...George W Bush.

I don’t have a problem with the movie taking sides against Bush. He was at best incompetent and at worse dangerous, making him a tale of woe worth revisiting.

At times Cameron does a superlative evocation of our current political climate. When the Na’vi have their towering tree toppled the reactions shots could have been straight out of Ground Zero on 9/11. Very effective.

There is also a line Michelle Rodriguez delivers that addresses manufactured deception in order to fight that isn’t the most subtle but a passable allusion.

However I got frustrated with the overt use of uniquely Bush lexicon. Lines like: “Shock and Awe”, “Pre-emptive Strike”, “Fight Terror” is vernacular he gave the world to be sure. The problem is not that Bush shouldn’t be mocked. The problem is it ruins the escapism of the movie. You are pulled out of the experience of a far off planet in 2154, back to 2002...back here.

Why has Cameron done that? In my humble opinion it is because we are for the most part...morons. The theme of the movie is crystal clear. Harmony with our environment is more important than imperialistic gains. Unfortunately the metaphor isn’t enough and a chalk board has been carted out..and it is disjointing and disappointing.

Cameron deftly placed the highly desirable deposits the bad guys seek, underground and fancifully referred to them as “cheddar”. I get it is a metaphor for oil and that Americans don’t care what is in the way of that which they wish to obtain. However you don’t have to actually call the mineral they seek “unobtainium”. We get it. We should all get it.

Being consumed by the greed of attaining “things” to the detriment of “living things” is short-sighted, inane and possibly catastrophic. Great premise but no hammer over the head is needed.

Clearly Cameron’s original script had origins in Native Americans being slaughtered and relocated from their beloved land they connected with spiritually. What a tragic and shameful chapter in history that race and religion made them a lesser concern.

“I see you” was a simple, powerful and constructive means to buttress this point about a shared “humanity” being more important than perceived differences. “I see you” means you acknowledge “they matter”.

It is a very worthy picture. It does so many things so very well. I only wish it didn’t try at times to speak to those of us with a Grade 3 education.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

Food For Thought

Egyptians in the time of the Pharaohs (5000 years ago) routinely lived into their 80’s. Back then most cultures were lucky to see 50.

In modern day there is an equally fascinating longevity trend found in the mountains of Pakistan, Russia, Ecuador and Peru, where people are seeing 120+.

What exactly is going on here? Life expectancy averages here in Western civilization are barely 80 and people rarely see 100. Aren’t we at a Medical advantage?

I think it comes down to what we put into our bodies that makes the difference.

Isn’t it remarkable that when you cut/scrape yourself that your body just goes about the business of clotting up the wound and replacing the cells? Our bodies are the result of eons of evolution and have been continually tuning themselves for the purpose of survival.

The human body is mostly water so what other nutrients/building-blocks are at its disposal, to rely on for this autonomous healing power?

After Carbon and Nitrogen we are chockfull of trace elements. Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulphur, Sodium, Chlorine, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Strontium, Bromine, Silicon, Fluorine...hell the list goes on forever.

Therefore it seems rational that keeping a good supply of these minerals may be a key to our well being. However we can’t absorb copper by chewing on a wire, as our bodies cannot absorb elements such as metals directly.

We need a medium, a plant for example, to absorb these things out of the ground so we can in turn ingest and derive the nutrients.

Unfortunately the vegetables in your grocery store are no longer filled with most minerals. You see you don’t need all of these elements to grow a tomato that looks and tastes like a tomato.

Vegetables are instead grown from soil that has long since been sucked dry of the multitude of rich minerals as farms really only need to replace the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium to rear a crop. And so they do. They are after all...a business.

This brings us back to the Egyptians who planted their agriculture in the flood plains of the Nile River. Every spring the Ethiopian mountains would produce a melt that bore down all of this natural goodness across these very plains annually.

The other mountainous regions mentioned above are right at the “tap” of the irrigation bounty. Their water is so cloudy with nutrients that it has been dubbed “glacial milk”.

I watched the documentary Food Inc. the other day and it just solidified my concerns over the quality of our food. Perhaps the rising rates in asthma, autism and diabetes have their roots in what is stoking our fires. Perhaps we look like tomatoes....but we too are woefully short on ingredients.

It’s common to hear stories of mothers-to-be having wild food cravings. Is this a body’s innate reaction to lacking nutrients needed to satisfy the leeching child?

You know a horse will eat the wood in its stall if you do not give it a block of salt to lick. That animal needs something in its system and on some very elemental level it will bite and gnaw everything in sight until it gets it.

Time for me to take my daily vitamins!

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great!

Barack Tiger Obama Woods

Obama formally announced his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This decision was shared informally a week prior so that the American public would have time to digest...oh and to give the media time to sell this strategy.

General McChrystal hours later told his troops "We are here to help the Afghan people". The obvious purpose was to get the soldiers in step with winning hearts and minds. However did these soldiers really sign up to risk there lives for the Afghan people?

Does this blog think that is the right thing to do? I honestly don’t know, but I do know I like what one pundit said. “Why are we using 100,000 troops for 100 people that wish us harm?”

I get that 9/11 scared the be-Jebus out of Americans (btw Obama deftly slipped in that fear reminder nugget early into his speech), but that was a different time.

The entire population is now aware of Jihadists. There are hundreds of millions of people constantly cognizant of such threats. This is not to say another “attack” won’t happen but I think the game has changed and working in anonymity is no longer a luxury Jihadists have.

I’m no pacifist but this war has been going on for 8 years now.

When I hear about young married men and women being sent off for 15 months to do a tour of duty I think about the social cost for those poor bastards. Who out there in their 20’s has a relationship that could withstand that? “Bye honey, see you in well over a year. Wait for me”.

Then you come to realize that a lot of these people have been sent there 3 and 4 times. Are you fucking kidding me?!

Jesus Christ no wonder Americans always pay lip service to the military. “Our brave men and women in uniform who exemplify...” is a nice line of homage to score points but it smacks of contrivance.

Reminds me of the South Park episode with Japanese businessmen distracting locals from uncovering their plot by saying ”You Americans have such large penises”.

Now I’m not going to get into the corrupt Karzai government that the US has helped install or talk of oil pipelines, quagmires, free elections and women’s rights. There are all kinds of tributaries to go down. I’m not even here to hack on Obama (although that Nobel Peace Prize might burn a little in his fingers now), all I’m saying is that we are always being sold something.

Want a recent example of being sold a story line? We were told (some people even believed) Tiger Woods was out for a shoeless, 2:30 AM, prescription drug-riddled drive when he crashed into a tree and his wife pulled him out of the car to safety.

Personally I wondered why she was the first one on scene when he ended up at a neighbour’s house. Then I wondered why they said she used a golf club to break a window and free him...only to find out she smashed the back passenger side widow.

Maybe...just maybe she was chasing his cheating ass and swinging a golf club on the side exposed to the house as he drove away.

Maybe...just maybe Obama is pitching America a palatable story and the truth is a lot more obscure than a spurned Norwegian. Perhaps we will never be told the full truth so we are left with only one reliable reality; that many more lives will be profoundly changed and in some cases ended, in a plight that may or may not be as it appears.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

The Pitch

Climategate broke this week. Now I’m aware polls say 75% of people agree Global Warming is occurring and I have no wish to didactically pretend I have the answers sitting in my house in Barrie. Because I don’t. I only have questions.

For those of you unfamiliar, the climatologist brain trust in England at the heart of the case for Global Warming, had their emails compromised and leaked to the press. These emails included exchanges regarding subverting data that did not confirm a warming trend now as well as omitting a previous warming trend in the 30’s.

You see in recent years the data shows the earth has actually cooled. This makes it hard to extrapolate the Al Gore hockey stick graph in his movie. Also a warming trend in the 30’s (that was obviously followed by a cooling trend) does not help ramp up a unique alarm either.

If these emails are true then the question becomes....why? Well there are a couple of possible motives.

1- Money. Scientists at the fore are given increasingly larger grants as this plight gains momentum.

2- Notoriety. These scientists gain great fame amongst their peers.

Those are two very powerful motivators that could cloud objectivity, which is to say human fallibility may be in play.

Personally I have been sceptical of Global Warming for two simple reasons. Neither which are proof that it does not exist, merely red flags to me personally.

1- Telling me the earth has heated up 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit in 100 years seems erroneously specific given we were were shitting in outhouses, traveling by horse and buggy and using Morse Code. How the hell do we know the Global Temperature so exacting back then? .-..-....-.-.---.-..-.--.- “Your temperature again Addis Ababa?" ..--.-.-.----.-.-.- "78.2 or 78.3?"

2- We have had roughly 60 Ice Ages in just the last two million years. That represents massive cooling followed by obvious heating by a planet that was sparsely populated with glorified monkeys on it. No Hummers or factories back then. Theoretically we are in between Ice Ages presently and therefore in a warmer period.

This is obviously a planet in constant flux regardless of humanity when it comes to varioutions in temperature.

Now I’m not saying we humans are not polluting and making a goddamned mess of things. If you’ve read this blog enough you know I’m not saying that.

What I have been saying is that knowing the actual problem and dealing with it is the least we can do. How are we going to address a problem if we can’t properly identify it?

I am of course happy to have the debate. Not with me mind you, but between those that should be in the know and without any perverting agenda.

Perhaps Global Warming is happening. However unless you know an accredited Climatologist with a peer review finding of unmolested data...then you have just been listening to someone else regurgitate something fed to them.

When Climategate broke FOX News treated it like the bombshell that would blow the roof off a hoax while CNN treated it as suspiciously timed and lacking context. Two major journalistic operations can’t even report like journalists. Both strike me as unfairly characterizing this and I question the media’s ability to properly inform its public.

I want to quickly revisit the money motive. Goldman Sachs is one of the big corporations that are supporting a Cap and Trade initiative that is supposed to counter Global Warming. This also smells to me. If this legislation passes there will be a huge derivative business created in which people with buy and sell allowances for pollution...which is to say the brokers will be making a mint regardless.

Don’t even get me started on the myopically self-serving politicians. There is an awful lot of suspicion to be spread around.

"...as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep."

-The Big Kahuna

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

*The Wall Street Journal has captured the dilemma well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574559630382048494.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Need Space?

If I were to scale up an atom’s nucleus so it was the size of a marble, would you be able to guess the comparative size of an electron encircling that nucleus? Or how far apart they’d be?

This question is really about space. How much is there in what we perceive as solid objects and how comprehensive is our spatial grasp?

The electron in this scenario would be the thickness of a human hair.

Given this scale, I figured the electron would be a couple inches away from the marble-sized nucleus. Seemed reasonable. After all electrons whizzing about can’t be too far away or else we wouldn’t perceive objects as solid. Could we?

Turns out the electron is 10,000 feet away!

Next time you look across Kempenfelt Bay (roughly 1 mile), think about the distance from shore to shore. Picture placing a marble on the one side then picture a pin head sized electron twice the distance away encircling/vibrating and giving everything we know density.

Amazing.

This epiphany proved useful to me when I visited the Natural History Museum in Manhattan. They have a similar scale-comprehension for the known Universe...and I was in awe.

They had this immense sphere (Hayden Sphere pictured above) that was 87 feet across (volume of 10 avg. homes).

Using that sphere to represent the known Universe (13.5 billion light years across) then a grain of sand inside it would represent a collection of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster (home to our galaxy).

If you were to then blow up that grain of sand (Virgo Cluster) to the size of that 87 foot sphere...then another grain of sand within that new sphere would represent our entire Milky Way Galaxy (a galaxy containing 100 Billion stars).

Scaling up that newest grain of sand (Milky Way) to the size of that 87 foot sphere...then our entire solar system would be a grain of sand inside of that sphere.

Finally, the earth would be a grain of sand within our solar system blown up to that 87 foot sphere.

This exercise was nearly impenetrable to me at the time and I still struggle grasping it.

Want a little more fun?

The Space Shuttle orbits the earth at 25,000 feet per second. That is 8 times as fast as a bullet from a rifle. At that speed even something with the mass of a paint fleck leaves a significant impact on the shuttle (no resistance in space).

The speed of light is 40,000 times the speed of the orbiting space shuttle. Jesus that is fast. At that speed, our Sun’s light still takes 8 minutes to travel the 93 million miles to our beloved little orb.

In a Universe that has perhaps 100 Billion Galaxies and each Galaxy having perhaps 100 Billion stars each...makes the amount of stars border incomprehensibility.

The closest star to us, after our own sun, is 40 Trillion kms away. Which is to say if we could travel the speed of light (320,000 times faster than a speeding bullet), it would take us 4.3 years, give or take, to reach that lone closest of stars.

Just don’t run into anything of any mass at that speed or else “trip cancelled”!

Also worth noting is that is a long long way for E.T. to travel if he is fortuitously next door.

At that absurd speed it would take you 13,500,000,000 years to cross the known Universe. That is 160 million life times, traveling the speed of light. Inconceivable.

All of this got me wondering about the striking similarity between the infinitesimal nature of the particles within the atom scale and the equally dwarfing Universe scale.

Between the stars and the atom, there is really a lot of nothing...in absolutely everything.

As my good friend Sizzler says "it brings new meaning to making something out of nothing at all".

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great

Verbal Abuse

“Free to talk?”

This represents a sent text msg and it seems simple enough to me. It’s a new society and it has officially become rude to just call somebody’s cell for casual conversation without a feeler. That my friends, is an unsolicited interruption our lives and as such, should be treated with courtesy.

The actual call is now a “Cry Wolf” privilege.

We have a social contract, a mutual understanding if you will, that if you call us it is important to speak with us right NOW. Your call will be answered on that basis, however if you are calling because it is merely convenient for you and you have not extended the courtesy to find out if it is convenient to us...then your privilege can and will be revoked. *Unless of course a regular phone-talk-live relationship has been established.

Just because it’s a good time for you does not mean it is a good time for us. Lives are happening and a call in the dark is akin to showing up on someone’s doorstep unannounced. You are dictating someone else’s time based on your momentary desire. To not utilize technology afforded is akin to saying “I know I could easily find out if they are free to talk but I don’t want to. I don’t want to make a small gesture of deference. I want to talk. I want to talk NOW!..and it’s not even urgent”

A simple text or feeler isn’t too much to ask. It is a grace, a consideration, a courtesy that says “Talking on the phone to you right now suits me. Does it suit you?”

Now if we are busy, busy with company or in the middle of something (watching a movie, exercising, doing our hair, using the lavatory, engrossed in a novel, having a nap, cleaning the house, fixing a latch, savouring a meal, contemplating life, balancing the check book) we can respond to a feeler text at a more appropriate moment with “In the middle of something. What’s up?” This exchange need not ruin what it is we are doing and affords leeway.

A phone call is ANSWER! ....... *ring* ANSWER! ....... *ring* ANSWER! ....... *ring* ANSWER! ....... *ring* ANSWER!

It’s not only selfishly myopic...it’s annoying.

Even better, save the person asking what the necessity is by giving them the heads up. Take the 10 seconds in a text and get to the import of the incursion. “Free to talk? Regarding _____”.

That second part gives us all the info we need. It’s pleasant, non-binding and considerate. Giving us, the solicited party, a chance to gauge the necessity of timing for the whole live-talk enterprise.

We have the technology. To have it at our disposal and not use it is being defiantly rude it would seem.

Those that fight this evolution because “they” like live contact are missing the point. Live contact is still doable, it’s just no longer acceptable to be dictated from one side. It should now be symbiotic. This is about mutual respect for time and not about phone conversation.

In short. Do not call people’s cell unless:

a) You have established a phone-talk-live relationship

b) It’s very important you talk to that person immediately

c) You have confirmed symbiosis and we are in fact....Free to Talk

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.

The Manhattan Experiment

I went to Manhattan to visit my little brother last weekend. It amazes me how many people have journeyed to The Big Apple. It’s as if it were a rite of passage. To go there is to add to the lapel of pins and badges we metaphorically show off to our friends and family. “Look where I’ve been”.

It’s not naked braying or something untoward. It is just a Bucket List item that we proudly check-off or sheepishly admit the omission.

Ok so I’ve joined the ranks of the checkers and I was not all that excited to do so. You see I’m not a big city kind of guy. I understand why on a sunny Friday afternoon the 400 Hwy is slammed with traffic like rats evacuating a sinking ship.

Manhattan is like Toronto but with more history, if you can call it history. We are talking about a Country who’s effectively 4 years old to the comparatively middle-aged Egypt. However it does feel substantial and purposely built by craftsmen. It feels like it wants to stay, wants to exist for a long long time. It’s this gravitas that makes it unique.

The Brooklyn Bridge for example was started in 1867. A rudimentary automobile was still 20 years from even being invented so it was the horse and buggy that moved the masses. Still they built this monumental edifice, the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, rising 30 stories over the mostly frigid water and today it hosts 6 lanes of vehicles. It’s bloody awe inspiring to behold it.

It was the first city built for the modern age. The planners and builders of Manhattan boldly and audacious created an engineering marvel. A city that would become known as the center of the Universe to so many.

It accomplishes something else astonishing. It rivals Paris, Rome, Venice and London as an icon. Of course Hollywood being American helped. How many images have we been bombarded with in our lives? Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Twin Towers, Museum of Natural History, Empire State Building and the list goes on and on. Movies, songs and literature have seared this manifestation into our cultural psyche.

Personally I couldn’t get the Wayne Newton standard “Danke Schoen” out of my head. The one line played on a constant loop “...I recall, Central Park in fall”. Admittedly my exposure to that was from Ferris Bueller but if I’m being honest...I loved it. It felt right sashaying about with that soundtrack, like having your mother bring you some warm coco while swaddling you in a blanket in front of a crisp fire.

It wasn’t all great though. Seldom does the dream live up to the reality and Manhattan is no exception. It’s dreadfully full of people.

One gets the feeling that if the last ice age hadn’t deposited a large basin of too soft to build soil in the middle...there would be no park at all. It would be endless concrete canyons. That despite all its charms and accomplishments, it feels as though you are among a devastating number of stacked shoeboxes housing human specimens in an immense scientific tool chest.

Also everyone has their own little fashion uniforms it would seem. Wall Street tycoon? Slick suit, skinny tie and coifed hair it is then. You have inner pain? Boots, skinny jeans and hipster hat.

It is as if even the entire populous is on a cat walk. “Now here is Sarah at a sidewalk cafe sipping champagne and sporting a trendy handbag that says I’m available but don’t approach unless you can afford the lifestyle.”

Manhattan has been checked off however my pin doesn’t feel so shiny. I’ve left my little brother behind and I’d like him returned from the experiment unharmed please.

“Live in New York once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.”

-Baz Luhrmann

Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great

Truth Be Told

I was recently talking to someone about a mutual friend who had broken up with their significant other. The platitude exchanged was “at least there wasn’t someone else”. Of course what is meant by that is the person leaving was not doing so because of another romantic entanglement.

I guess that might be true...

This is something we all hear. It’s the “go to” in the relationship-ender scene. Invariably when two people break up they ask the other “is there someone else?”

The canned response is “Of course not. There is no one else”, which in turn is believed at about a 50/50 clip.

Ahh human nature to believe what you want to believe.

There is the rare occasion when the person actually wants out because it “wasn’t working”. Bravo in this case as the honesty has given them both the opportunity to glean from the experience and is the proud choice. But man is that rare. Like albino grasshopper-monkey rare.

Some of The flee-ers will fess up because they’ve pretty much already set up permanent shop with the third party and the realization is inevitable. That’s a toughie. Not only have they been dipping in a third party pool...they’ve been doing that shit for quite some time. Time heals all. Let’s move on shall we.

Unfortunately most of these people have in fact been free-lancing and simply decided against making a messy situation messier. Why bother when you are on your way out the door?

Now why do I believe there is usually “someone else”? Speaking generally...Relationships are Security.

It is hard to cast off a blanket of security for the fear of the unknown. Cue the Hamlet reference...”makes cowards of us all”.

Therefore people tend to have third party security (the best kind of security because it has that new car smell and...well...security) giving them the courage of their convictions to actually leave .

Personally I’d like to believe in the fairytale. That everyone polices their actions perfectly and that what people say is the absolute truth. The reality is something very different.

The bust rate on divorce is well known. Half of all marriages end in divorce. Marriages that usually involve children, mortgages, intertwined friendships and family, capped off with a vow of undying love...end in failure 50% of the time.

Heck the other 50% who stay married are no screaming hell either. Most seem like manageable hell to me. Therefore believing someone who is dumping you is statistically naive at best.

Perhaps with matters of the heart statistics are best left alone. The dream is good sustaining stuff.

If you try and fail in an attempt at relationship bliss, don’t beat yourself up over “someone else” or even lower yourself to ask. The response will most likely be bullshit. Just dust yourself off and focus on all the annoying goddamned traits that you don’t have to put up with anymore.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great

Quacks Like a Duck

Has the power of positive thinking run amok? I had a sophisticated person the other day try to “enlighten” me about a book that talks about the power of positivity. We’ll leave the title a secret.

Evidently by sending out positive vibes into the universe, you can attract wealth now.

This is the newest incarnation of an old concept. People have been alledging that good vibes can heal what ails you for eons. There is no scientific facts to support such a theory but it seemed relatively harmless to “put on a happy face”.

But let’s take a bite of the reality sandwich and call this what it really is. Bullshit.

I think it’s gone too far and is no longer innocent smiley-faced delusion.

Hell I’ll even put aside the inference that the sick and the poor are filled with negative energy and thus causing their own dilemma. Remember, two-thirds of the earth’s population doesn’t have enough food to eat. So it would be preposterously pompous for the “manner born” to not only imply such a thing...but to believe it?! Yuck.

All this silliness has pervaded everything we do. We have real problems that require pro-active solutions by serious people. It seems a lot of people have gone from pretending things will turn out great...to actually relying on it.

The Economic crash was not a fluke. It was conceived from eternal optimism. Home values will go up, money will keep rolling in, living beyond our means isn’t a real concern, etc. And we aren't out of the woods by a long shot.

How about the environment? Everything is fine. Sure we have some people pointing out facts (scientists) but we have puppets (politicians) smacking their flippers together thinking this is the prelude to Annie singing “The Sun Will Come Out.....Tomorrow". Meanwhile what is really being done?

I think people need to get their heads out of the clouds. Positivity has gone from harmless to dangerous... and I wish more people would get back to the three R’s. Reason. Reality. Responsibility.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great