Not so bad

Well, I'm now officially minus 4 teeth, and so far not so bad... Except on the checkbook.

Not looking forward to it

I'm about to go and have my wisdom teeth removed. Can't say I'm too excited right now....

Unbelievable

And Southern California thought it was bad when we got upwards of 20 inches of rain in a month.

Mumbai just got hit with 26 in a day.

A lesson in futility

My fiance and I went to Souplantation for dinner tonight. For anyone unfamiliar with Souplantation, it is a soup and salad place. It's actually really good. They have other stuff too, like deserts and different breads and muffins and pasta, but salad is the main thing. A very good salad bar. Well, it seems that you see two types of people at a place like this, people who are health conscious, or looking for a healthy meal, and people who in the past may not have been so healthy, but are trying. (Read: overweight.) Well, usually when I see the latter I think to myself, "It's nice to see someone trying to make a change in their life for the better." I feel good when I see overweight people making a concerted effort to change themselves. Well, tonight there was a woman who had her fork in one hand, and in her other was a muffin. She was alternating, bite of muffin, bite of salad. It just struck me as funny. I mean, she was double fisting. If you're gonna make an effort, at least take the necessary steps. Only use one hand to feed yourself. I didn't see legs on the muffin, I'm sure it would have been on her tray after the salad was gone.

Why are Americans fatter than the French?

This is ridiculous. I can't believe it would take a research study to prove why Americans are fat.

I'll never understand

This world is filled with so many things that makes me sick. Robbery and rape, violence and murder, cheating, lying, and stealing. Wars waged in the name of God. It all happens every day. Human history is written by war, ancient civilizations have become dynasties by spilling enemy blood.

I see the news, I see our country, a "civilized" superpower country, fighting a ridiculous war. We're no different. The only difference is that we wear nice clothes and drive nice cars, but we're the same disgusting people of a thousand years ago that we call barbaric.

It all disgusts me, and I wonder what is wrong with people. After all, I have no urge to rob or rape, kill or mame, cheat, lie or steal. Maybe there is something wrong with me? Maybe all of us who want to elevate ourselves above the barbaric behavior that disgusts us are really the ones who are resisting instinct? I'd like to think not.

But when I see a story like this, it makes me ashamed to even be HUMAN. All politics and name calling aside, this makes me sick. Even worse is that this guy and his wife consider themselves religious.

Expose Exxon

Please pass this along, share it, blog it, or at least take a look at it.

http://www.exxposeexxon.com/

If anyone is familiar with other oil and gas companies, please comment.

From what I understand, BP and Shell are proactive in developing alternative energy sources and focusing some effort on renewables.

Jackasses.

Do people realize that because someone is Muslim that does not make them automatically a bad person. Being a devout Muslim is no different than being a devout Christian. There is a difference, however, when your religion makes you radical. Radical Islam or radical Christianity, it's all the same to me. In this case radical Muslims terrorize people with violence. Radical Christians do the same. Think: blowing up abortion clinics; killing someone in the name of God (or because God told them to do it); calling yourself Christian and hating someone for not being Christian.

Because these people exist does not make all in their group bad. A guy today at work picked up the paper in the breakroom and said, "I'm really getting sick of these Muslims." Seriously, he said that. I was ready to direct him to the cube of the nice guy in our department who is from Afghanistan and is Muslim.

Jackasses. That's what these people are.

I can feel it

Change is beginning to take hold. Not much, but some, which makes me feel a bit more hopeful. Here are some examples of what I mean:

It seems as though just in the past few weeks, more people of importance are speaking out against the current administration, and some "real" news is actually beginning to get coverage by the "media".

In the past few weeks I've actually seen several articles in mainstream news publications about the need for an increase in development of renewable energy supplies. I've also been seeing hybrids galore out and about. (It seems that people are either driving SUVs and other gas guzzlers, or very fuel efficient cars. If you hate Hummers, visit this site, FU and your H2, it's very funny). I've also been seeing a renewed push for the desire to get away from being an oil dependent society.

There's a progressive radio station that I listen to from time to time, AM 1360 KLSD San Diego. (If you aren't in San Diego, check out Air America.) I've figured up until a few weeks ago that the only people who listened were left wing liberals. This still may be the case, but I've heard great advertisements for the station on at least 2 other very popular local music stations. The fact that this progressive station may reach such broad audiences is very promising.

The Live 8 Live concerts got major coverage, which I'm sure has people thinking about world poverty and such. The G8 Summit has also been getting good publicity, which is also good for poverty and climate change awareness.

These are just several different examples about a range of topics, but nonetheless I'm starting to be more hopeful about the future our the planet and its inhabitants. If anyone else has taken notice of this trend, please comment.

Finally saw Motorcycle Diaries

It was a great movie. After 2 months of it being out of stock at both Long's and Blockbuster, I finally got a copy of it. It was a very good movie. Regardless of what you make of it, it is a great story.

I couldn't have said it better

Except that I'm not in another country having to answer questions about our country. Read this. (The July 4th post)

A great quote

"All the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do."

-William McDonough, architect and designer