Air and water.
The basics.
Breathing and drinking.
From first principles it's possible to develop a logical application of resources to manage and sustain a healthy environment for all.
It requires life experience, open-mindedness, and willingness to get it wrong on the path to getting it right.
With 8 billion people it requires a willingness to abandon the old vision of the planet, because the old limits set by people who studied the problem have been passed already.
Science has contributed to increasing certain aspects of food production, etc. But more, the rich have blinded everyone else with increasing skill at producing distraction.
How completely disruptive and distracting advertising is is now one of the most definitive aspects in its production.
It's not about information beyond buy this...to solve that...or to be able to do this...but mostly just buy this!
Rambling a bit on a sunny Sunday before heading to the zoo. The boy likes it and it's a good walk.
More to come with focus and determination.
Back to basics.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Words
Lots and lots and lots of words.
For those who are instantly repelled by the presence of too many, this is not for you.
Meaning.
What we bring to words, and what is agreed upon to be represented by words is the meaning of these words. Starting with basics...humans have animal bodies that require air, water, shelter...so basic.
I want to be able to have arguments because I'm a debater personality...can you believe that?
But I want to have valuable arguments that are presenting and examining ideas that can alter the course of humanity. Why? Because along with a great number of other people I have an awareness that the way things are going on this planet is dooming us to a future filled with garbage, conflict and ultimate self-annihilation.
I have been aware of this from an early age and I have been cast out for my insights. Marginalized, minimized and diminished. So...an example might be the essay I wrote for university acceptance that was about an endangered species and used mankind as an example. Those who read my essay decided to place me in rudimentary English classes at the university where I had a scholarship in chemistry.
I was subsequently placed in a normal English class, but circumstances continued to conspire against me, and I was finished before I started. Of course, I still feel like I'm starting now and what better time!
Now! It's a word. Do we have any agreement on its meaning? If a disaster strikes, now is the time when people have to suck it up and get on with fixing what needs fixing. If a disaster looms, now is the time to avert it if possible. Those who think that disaster is inevitable and there's nothing we can do about it have clearly abdicated any responsibility for their part in seeing life persist and it was in that spirit that I recognized that the forces which dominated were run by people who had no sense of their part in seeing life persist. That's untenable and it's most obvious forty-one years later in who is president of the United States. Now. A word anchored in the past as soon as it's uttered. A word that exists on a continuum of change that can include a segment of change like today, this minute, etc.
Bird song outside my window brings me back to the present. Breakfast for the family must be made. Now.
For those who are instantly repelled by the presence of too many, this is not for you.
Meaning.
What we bring to words, and what is agreed upon to be represented by words is the meaning of these words. Starting with basics...humans have animal bodies that require air, water, shelter...so basic.
I want to be able to have arguments because I'm a debater personality...can you believe that?
But I want to have valuable arguments that are presenting and examining ideas that can alter the course of humanity. Why? Because along with a great number of other people I have an awareness that the way things are going on this planet is dooming us to a future filled with garbage, conflict and ultimate self-annihilation.
I have been aware of this from an early age and I have been cast out for my insights. Marginalized, minimized and diminished. So...an example might be the essay I wrote for university acceptance that was about an endangered species and used mankind as an example. Those who read my essay decided to place me in rudimentary English classes at the university where I had a scholarship in chemistry.
I was subsequently placed in a normal English class, but circumstances continued to conspire against me, and I was finished before I started. Of course, I still feel like I'm starting now and what better time!
Now! It's a word. Do we have any agreement on its meaning? If a disaster strikes, now is the time when people have to suck it up and get on with fixing what needs fixing. If a disaster looms, now is the time to avert it if possible. Those who think that disaster is inevitable and there's nothing we can do about it have clearly abdicated any responsibility for their part in seeing life persist and it was in that spirit that I recognized that the forces which dominated were run by people who had no sense of their part in seeing life persist. That's untenable and it's most obvious forty-one years later in who is president of the United States. Now. A word anchored in the past as soon as it's uttered. A word that exists on a continuum of change that can include a segment of change like today, this minute, etc.
Bird song outside my window brings me back to the present. Breakfast for the family must be made. Now.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Fortunate Reality/Unfortunate Reality
In a world made ever faster by binary systems (a.k.a. computers), it is also made ever smaller and isolated.
The technology that can disseminate an idea worldwide in an instant also allows people to get all their info at home and never see another person in the flesh.
While hard science is the basis for the technology everyone is ever more dependent on to be heard and informed, what is being said is a grab bag of retro thinking based on a reality that doesn't exist any more, if it ever did. While diversity globally is obvious, those who were sequestered into their ideal communities didn't have to see the differences all around them. Of course, in "the good old days", that brief period of post-war ebullience (in the west), buffered by the victors' spoils and military dominance without budget and environment killing resource depletion, human nature made sure that the status quo was kept and the lawns were cut and the garbage out, and heaven forbid someone should whisper the word "divorce".
Lack of information was bliss, except for the nagging feeling that something was missing in the perfect recipe laid out by the American manufacturers for all the consumers to consume.
Now, as the planet is becoming more and more plugged with garbage, plastics turned into instant landfill regiftables, the dollar dictates the conversation even while people start to waken to the injustices kept in place by the buoyancy of the economy.
Articles are still being written by experts and analysts woefully pointing to the great standard of living afforded by resource exploitation. This wishful thinking of the days gone by nonsense cannot point the way to the future. So, the very technology that allows for the dissemination of the bs nonsense that cries about spilt milk and horses out of the corral, refuses to apply itself to the hard but not impossible task of thinking through how to manage human resources and maintain the environment.
The fortunate reality is that we are not done yet. There is a possibility for new thought and revaluing of human life and the planet's relationship.
The unfortunate reality is that massive damage has been done to that relationship and those who could do the most the fastest to correct it are buried in the past. Not because they're dead, but because their entire economic theory is blind to the value of a healthy planet and an educated population that self-regulates. Domination by division and enforced ignorance is the norm.
Ultimately (taking a major quantum leap in thought direction), Galileo was believed and so it is possible that the powers that be could wake up to reality and stop sending the earth into inevitable over-population civilization destruction. Only those who count on war to keep them rich think that life is normal with paid body guards and high walls all around. The thinking that causes violent conflict to be perpetuated is becoming ever more obvious and blatantly false. People will see who the real perpetrators are, those who profit from the losses of others, protected from their malfeasance by a system they have bought.
The technology that can disseminate an idea worldwide in an instant also allows people to get all their info at home and never see another person in the flesh.
While hard science is the basis for the technology everyone is ever more dependent on to be heard and informed, what is being said is a grab bag of retro thinking based on a reality that doesn't exist any more, if it ever did. While diversity globally is obvious, those who were sequestered into their ideal communities didn't have to see the differences all around them. Of course, in "the good old days", that brief period of post-war ebullience (in the west), buffered by the victors' spoils and military dominance without budget and environment killing resource depletion, human nature made sure that the status quo was kept and the lawns were cut and the garbage out, and heaven forbid someone should whisper the word "divorce".
Lack of information was bliss, except for the nagging feeling that something was missing in the perfect recipe laid out by the American manufacturers for all the consumers to consume.
Now, as the planet is becoming more and more plugged with garbage, plastics turned into instant landfill regiftables, the dollar dictates the conversation even while people start to waken to the injustices kept in place by the buoyancy of the economy.
Articles are still being written by experts and analysts woefully pointing to the great standard of living afforded by resource exploitation. This wishful thinking of the days gone by nonsense cannot point the way to the future. So, the very technology that allows for the dissemination of the bs nonsense that cries about spilt milk and horses out of the corral, refuses to apply itself to the hard but not impossible task of thinking through how to manage human resources and maintain the environment.
The fortunate reality is that we are not done yet. There is a possibility for new thought and revaluing of human life and the planet's relationship.
The unfortunate reality is that massive damage has been done to that relationship and those who could do the most the fastest to correct it are buried in the past. Not because they're dead, but because their entire economic theory is blind to the value of a healthy planet and an educated population that self-regulates. Domination by division and enforced ignorance is the norm.
Ultimately (taking a major quantum leap in thought direction), Galileo was believed and so it is possible that the powers that be could wake up to reality and stop sending the earth into inevitable over-population civilization destruction. Only those who count on war to keep them rich think that life is normal with paid body guards and high walls all around. The thinking that causes violent conflict to be perpetuated is becoming ever more obvious and blatantly false. People will see who the real perpetrators are, those who profit from the losses of others, protected from their malfeasance by a system they have bought.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Filling the void
As I begin my blogging again, I see how unready I was five and more years ago.
I was afraid.
I had people reading me and I was still afraid. I stopped writing and they stopped reading. Not such a big surprise. If that was my worst fear, it's happened and now I'm starting up again and I haven't even told anybody.
I'm writing into the vacuum that is cyberspace.
A solar flare could wipe out everything with an electromagnetic pulse and we'd all be back at square one.
I did that without a solar flare just by observing how my relationships hadn't been working and taking time to take stock and heal...in the meantime, injuring myself even more and also watching the world fall apart around me. Then, out of the absolute ashes my new life grew.
Starting with virtually nothing here in Toronto, I am at least in a hub that has connections around the world. These days that's true no matter where you are, but there is something to be said for a place that actually has more than a million people in it and functions well through intense winter and summer weather.
The other fear is that the void is filled with drivel. Who knows what actually becomes of pixels? Do they coalesce and eventually form a ...no, it's nonsense. By the time electrons formed into patterns that could resonate across any amount of space and generate a response of note...let's just say that's a lot more time than anything has a right to expect anything to happen.
My drivel is special. So say I. I will at least make an effort to prove that to be true. No readers? No problem. If you build it, etc. etc. All in good time as my father would say. He's not saying much these days. Gallows humour. I'm clearly in a dark place. It's a gorgeous day out there and I'm turning 56 tomorrow. What about it? I'm actually more psyched than I've been in quite a few years.
But not enough to post on the date I wrote the bulk of the above. A bit of editing and another chapter in the crazy book of life.
Beyond filling the void there is taking advantage of opportunities. First, there is recognizing opportunities for what they are. Then, there is preparing as fully as possible for them.
Next time! That's all I can say. Nothing to be done about the past. Moving right along.
I was afraid.
I had people reading me and I was still afraid. I stopped writing and they stopped reading. Not such a big surprise. If that was my worst fear, it's happened and now I'm starting up again and I haven't even told anybody.
I'm writing into the vacuum that is cyberspace.
A solar flare could wipe out everything with an electromagnetic pulse and we'd all be back at square one.
I did that without a solar flare just by observing how my relationships hadn't been working and taking time to take stock and heal...in the meantime, injuring myself even more and also watching the world fall apart around me. Then, out of the absolute ashes my new life grew.
Starting with virtually nothing here in Toronto, I am at least in a hub that has connections around the world. These days that's true no matter where you are, but there is something to be said for a place that actually has more than a million people in it and functions well through intense winter and summer weather.
The other fear is that the void is filled with drivel. Who knows what actually becomes of pixels? Do they coalesce and eventually form a ...no, it's nonsense. By the time electrons formed into patterns that could resonate across any amount of space and generate a response of note...let's just say that's a lot more time than anything has a right to expect anything to happen.
My drivel is special. So say I. I will at least make an effort to prove that to be true. No readers? No problem. If you build it, etc. etc. All in good time as my father would say. He's not saying much these days. Gallows humour. I'm clearly in a dark place. It's a gorgeous day out there and I'm turning 56 tomorrow. What about it? I'm actually more psyched than I've been in quite a few years.
But not enough to post on the date I wrote the bulk of the above. A bit of editing and another chapter in the crazy book of life.
Beyond filling the void there is taking advantage of opportunities. First, there is recognizing opportunities for what they are. Then, there is preparing as fully as possible for them.
Next time! That's all I can say. Nothing to be done about the past. Moving right along.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Building from nothing
It has been said that everything comes from nothing.
There is a physical aspect to the extraordinary appearance of the universe from virtually nothing, and there is a spiritual aspect that accompanies the attachment of labels and the defining of existence.
Nothing > Something.
I have some stuff. Perhaps I should get rid of all of it so I can start from nothing. It seems most of my stuff just weighs me down and takes up space.
Yesterday I knocked a light fixture and watched it explode all over the ground. Suddenly I knew what I was going to do for the next half an hour.
There is a physical aspect to the extraordinary appearance of the universe from virtually nothing, and there is a spiritual aspect that accompanies the attachment of labels and the defining of existence.
Nothing > Something.
I have some stuff. Perhaps I should get rid of all of it so I can start from nothing. It seems most of my stuff just weighs me down and takes up space.
Yesterday I knocked a light fixture and watched it explode all over the ground. Suddenly I knew what I was going to do for the next half an hour.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Interesting times
The old Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times," is precisely the circumstance we inhabit this era.
Since the 1960's large corporations have abused their power and abandoned any responsibility to the general public or the planet, settling instead on short term gains and the elevation of their monetary standing. That the planet and the general public are poorer as a result is something that ceases to be a surprise and has become a background reality leading to general resignation towards what little can be done to alter the course of humanity.
We are doomed to live in an increasingly gross and unfit environment. Reports are made that the air quality in subways underground is equivalent to that of Beijing. A terrifying prospect for anyone with long term exposure through their daily commute to and from work. Result? Listen to the echoing silence. Suggested solutions? A pin drops. We all could hear it if it wasn't drowned out by the latest barrage of Trump news.
That one of the most successful exploiters of legal loopholes and privilege handed down from on high has become the leader of the United States is sad and the fact that anything he says is now tainted so that even the use of the word sad is linked to his obnoxious tweeting is even more sad.
The end of the world is coming but those who would delay its worse effects and prolong human existence in a humane way are in direct competition with those who are generating the worst problems and contributing to increasingly rapid disintegration of the infrastructure our planet needs to maintain itself.
On the one side, philanthropists and futurists and activists and anyone who takes the scientific literature seriously and makes an effort to reduce pollution and emissions. On the other side, everyone else, who just wants to feed their family and consequently drinks the koolaid that whatever it takes to secure a job is worth the expense to the environment, their morality and somehow having enough money will make up for the loss of clean air, water, green space, etc.
Sad. There are those whose sole talent is protecting the money of others who have the most. These people are never held accountable and yet they deliberately and consciously destroy habitats, resources, cheat and lie, manipulate for the purpose of keeping the economy locked on the same track, and when they die their memory is preserved by these rich sellouts and their achievements looked up to as somehow noble when the actual results are dire and pathetic.
Dire and pathetic. That's what most of economics should be entitled. Take courses in lying, cheating and misdirecting the general public. It's easy and it's profitable, as long as you don't mind wearing a gas mask and carrying a nanofilter for your drinking water. All that matters is the bottom line. Who won?
What used to be earth shattering news is now buried in remote blogs with comments sections filled with back and forths from who can only be plants or perhaps true sycophants who simply love to echo the battle cries of their pals and fill up cyberspace with nonsense and more misdirection of energy. It is sad. Real problems and concerns are evaded, ignored, buried along with those who actually lose their lives as a result of those problems. The cry of fake news is louder than the cry of foul! Foul play is somehow okay now. It's the way things are done. Crazy. If you are not someone who goes along with this you are then seen as an iconoclast, an outcast, and far worse names. The suggestion is made that you are weak, ill-informed, the smoke screen of confusion becomes so thick as to be impenetrable. All part of daily business workings.
Recognizing the problem is a start. There are so many examples of it, listing every one would take longer than simply identifying the closest to home, the most far reaching, and working on those for the sake of improving the future. If right now is okay, then the opportunity exists for improvement through forward thinking and application of good practices. If right now is not okay, then leadership is needed to address the wrongs and make changes through adjustments where possible and the free expression of the situation so that those who should be put to shame are not protected and those who are suffering may seek and find relief and support.
This is not a left-wing conversation. This is a two winged flying conversation that needs both wings to get airborne. If one wing is fighting the other, only the mud will get stirred.
Since the 1960's large corporations have abused their power and abandoned any responsibility to the general public or the planet, settling instead on short term gains and the elevation of their monetary standing. That the planet and the general public are poorer as a result is something that ceases to be a surprise and has become a background reality leading to general resignation towards what little can be done to alter the course of humanity.
We are doomed to live in an increasingly gross and unfit environment. Reports are made that the air quality in subways underground is equivalent to that of Beijing. A terrifying prospect for anyone with long term exposure through their daily commute to and from work. Result? Listen to the echoing silence. Suggested solutions? A pin drops. We all could hear it if it wasn't drowned out by the latest barrage of Trump news.
That one of the most successful exploiters of legal loopholes and privilege handed down from on high has become the leader of the United States is sad and the fact that anything he says is now tainted so that even the use of the word sad is linked to his obnoxious tweeting is even more sad.
The end of the world is coming but those who would delay its worse effects and prolong human existence in a humane way are in direct competition with those who are generating the worst problems and contributing to increasingly rapid disintegration of the infrastructure our planet needs to maintain itself.
On the one side, philanthropists and futurists and activists and anyone who takes the scientific literature seriously and makes an effort to reduce pollution and emissions. On the other side, everyone else, who just wants to feed their family and consequently drinks the koolaid that whatever it takes to secure a job is worth the expense to the environment, their morality and somehow having enough money will make up for the loss of clean air, water, green space, etc.
Sad. There are those whose sole talent is protecting the money of others who have the most. These people are never held accountable and yet they deliberately and consciously destroy habitats, resources, cheat and lie, manipulate for the purpose of keeping the economy locked on the same track, and when they die their memory is preserved by these rich sellouts and their achievements looked up to as somehow noble when the actual results are dire and pathetic.
Dire and pathetic. That's what most of economics should be entitled. Take courses in lying, cheating and misdirecting the general public. It's easy and it's profitable, as long as you don't mind wearing a gas mask and carrying a nanofilter for your drinking water. All that matters is the bottom line. Who won?
What used to be earth shattering news is now buried in remote blogs with comments sections filled with back and forths from who can only be plants or perhaps true sycophants who simply love to echo the battle cries of their pals and fill up cyberspace with nonsense and more misdirection of energy. It is sad. Real problems and concerns are evaded, ignored, buried along with those who actually lose their lives as a result of those problems. The cry of fake news is louder than the cry of foul! Foul play is somehow okay now. It's the way things are done. Crazy. If you are not someone who goes along with this you are then seen as an iconoclast, an outcast, and far worse names. The suggestion is made that you are weak, ill-informed, the smoke screen of confusion becomes so thick as to be impenetrable. All part of daily business workings.
Recognizing the problem is a start. There are so many examples of it, listing every one would take longer than simply identifying the closest to home, the most far reaching, and working on those for the sake of improving the future. If right now is okay, then the opportunity exists for improvement through forward thinking and application of good practices. If right now is not okay, then leadership is needed to address the wrongs and make changes through adjustments where possible and the free expression of the situation so that those who should be put to shame are not protected and those who are suffering may seek and find relief and support.
This is not a left-wing conversation. This is a two winged flying conversation that needs both wings to get airborne. If one wing is fighting the other, only the mud will get stirred.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Writing and Publishing
I've been writing every day for a very long time.
I have not been publishing every day.
In some ways I'm glad. A lot of what I've written has been repetitive drivel about my feelings or various challenges I'm facing and a lot of it has been dredging up my past and resolving issues that in some ways nothing can be done about. I'm glad I haven't been drawing a lot of attention to these things that I feel are better dealt with privately.
That said, I appreciate when someone is laying it all out there for others and it can make them stronger. Or, it can make them a target for trolls and since I've already been shut down so long, it's fair to say I'm going to be stepping more wisely as a result of writing personal stuff in a personal journal versus pouring it out into the world for public feedback.
Working as an editor I've seen the product of my labours support someone else's progress and a known entity and that's totally okay with me. I like the people I work with and my purpose is to strengthen their work. It's completely in keeping with how I see myself.
Moving right along. I see the door. I'm stepping through. It should be fun.
I have not been publishing every day.
In some ways I'm glad. A lot of what I've written has been repetitive drivel about my feelings or various challenges I'm facing and a lot of it has been dredging up my past and resolving issues that in some ways nothing can be done about. I'm glad I haven't been drawing a lot of attention to these things that I feel are better dealt with privately.
That said, I appreciate when someone is laying it all out there for others and it can make them stronger. Or, it can make them a target for trolls and since I've already been shut down so long, it's fair to say I'm going to be stepping more wisely as a result of writing personal stuff in a personal journal versus pouring it out into the world for public feedback.
Working as an editor I've seen the product of my labours support someone else's progress and a known entity and that's totally okay with me. I like the people I work with and my purpose is to strengthen their work. It's completely in keeping with how I see myself.
Moving right along. I see the door. I'm stepping through. It should be fun.
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