Remember back in the "old days" - like 10-12 years ago - when you could easily spot a crazy person on the street? They'd be mumbling to themselves, and/or staring down stupidly as they walk down the street, occasionally bumping into you coz they're not watching where they're going, etc.
Well, now you can't tell who's crazy and who's not thanks to Smartphone users. Think about it. They do the same effing thing: gawk stupidly at their hand, devices half hidden, bumping into you coz they're not paying attention to where they're going, mumbling and/or shrieking at seemingly nothing, etc.
Smartphone users: the new mentally ill. Of course, eventually, they will be clinically deranged thanks to the radiation seeping into their heads.
Speaking of heads, and this should come as no surprise to anyone, it turns out that
there is an actual, physical difference between delicious Liberal brain and rotten Conservative brain. Apparently, Liberal brains have a larger anterior cingulate cortex - which regulates decision-making & critical thinking, while Conservative brains have larger amygdalas - which controls emotional learning and fear processing. No wonder Beck blubbers like a baby and sees bogeymen everywhere.
For more on this interesting phenomena, click HERE.
Switching gears, I just discovered a FANTASTIC holiday tradition in Sweden. According to Slate, every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, "From All of Us to All of You." Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas."
Seriously, literally half of the entire country spends a "traditional" Xmas Eve watching Donald Duck cartoons! I love it! Love it love it love it! And if you don't believe me, click HERE.
Staying abroad, here's a fun fact in case any of my Peace Corps buddies/former students are reading this:
Chance that a Russian believes the sun revolves around the Earth: 1 in 3
And before you trash the Russians, consider this:
Percentage of Mississippians who are unhappy with the outcome of the Civil War: 27%
Let me bang the drum again: Cut them loose, cut them loose, cut them loose!
Finally, I was happy to discover a place that lets me download free books on to me Kindle. It's all "classic" stuff, where the copyright has expired. I just got "The Count of Monte Cristo" coz it was the first one I saw from the daunting list that I hadn't read.
Rather than pore through the list, I thought I'd throw it out there for suggestions from folks as to what "classic" I should look for - in case I haven't read it. So let's hear your suggestions, folks!
And thanks!
7/13/11
Two Wars We Need to End
I was surprised, to put it mildly, when I saw The Chronicle's not-so-token Conservative columnist Debra Saunders write something last month calling for an end to "The War on Drugs." Something you think we would have learned during Prohibition. But it's nice to see folks coming around.
Since Nixon launched this so-called war 40 years ago, drug use is actually UP. Saunders rattled off 4 very good reasons to quit beating our collective heads against the wall on this useless and silly "war"
1) It encourages criminality: the DoJ reports that "mid-level and retail drug distribution in the U.S. was dominated by more than 900,000 criminally active gang members" representing more than 20,000 U.S. gangs
2) Institutional hypocrisy: It's well known that the last three Presidents used illegal drugs. A drug conviction probably would have prevented any of them from becoming President, yet all 3 were/are "drug warriors"
3) Deprived revenue: A Harvard economist estimated in '08 that legalizing drugs could save federal/state/local gov'ts $44 billion annually while taxing drugs could being in an additional $33 billion. But no, let's cut Medicare instead.
4) Limiting individual rights: This can best be summed up by a quote from Neill Franklin, a former Baltimore narcotics cop and Ex. Dir. of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: "President Obama needs to think about where he would be right now had he been caught with drugs as a young black man. It's probably not in the Oval Office, so why does he insist on ramping up a drug war that needlessly churns other young black men through the (broken) criminal justice system?"
It's time for Washington to LEAD public opinion on this issue - remember when real leaders did that?
The other stupid, useless war is, of course, in Afghanistan. I'm actually on the side of a Reverend on this one, who recently wrote in the Chron: "Some argue that our reasons for beginning this war were morally just. But after a decade of revenge, we rounded that corner long ago. Amid news of air strikes that kill children scavenging for kindling, midnight raids on homes that terrorize families in their sleep and support of a morally bankrupt government nearly as abhorrent to women's rights as the Taliban, we can no longer pretend that we are liberating Afghans. Our faith traditions teach us that every human being is a beloved child of God. This violence we continue to inflict on innocent civilians is immoral and disregards our most sacred precepts of the inherent worth and dignity of each human being."
I agree wholeheartedly with Rev. Schlosser and to quote him once more: "We can't afford this future, morally or financially. This path has cost us dearly. There's no official count for Afghan civilians killed by this war, but it's well into the thousands, many of them children. Others were breadwinners whose deaths plunged their families into poverty. Some were beloved community leaders with whole villages depending on them."
Amen!
Since Nixon launched this so-called war 40 years ago, drug use is actually UP. Saunders rattled off 4 very good reasons to quit beating our collective heads against the wall on this useless and silly "war"
1) It encourages criminality: the DoJ reports that "mid-level and retail drug distribution in the U.S. was dominated by more than 900,000 criminally active gang members" representing more than 20,000 U.S. gangs
2) Institutional hypocrisy: It's well known that the last three Presidents used illegal drugs. A drug conviction probably would have prevented any of them from becoming President, yet all 3 were/are "drug warriors"
3) Deprived revenue: A Harvard economist estimated in '08 that legalizing drugs could save federal/state/local gov'ts $44 billion annually while taxing drugs could being in an additional $33 billion. But no, let's cut Medicare instead.
4) Limiting individual rights: This can best be summed up by a quote from Neill Franklin, a former Baltimore narcotics cop and Ex. Dir. of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: "President Obama needs to think about where he would be right now had he been caught with drugs as a young black man. It's probably not in the Oval Office, so why does he insist on ramping up a drug war that needlessly churns other young black men through the (broken) criminal justice system?"
It's time for Washington to LEAD public opinion on this issue - remember when real leaders did that?
The other stupid, useless war is, of course, in Afghanistan. I'm actually on the side of a Reverend on this one, who recently wrote in the Chron: "Some argue that our reasons for beginning this war were morally just. But after a decade of revenge, we rounded that corner long ago. Amid news of air strikes that kill children scavenging for kindling, midnight raids on homes that terrorize families in their sleep and support of a morally bankrupt government nearly as abhorrent to women's rights as the Taliban, we can no longer pretend that we are liberating Afghans. Our faith traditions teach us that every human being is a beloved child of God. This violence we continue to inflict on innocent civilians is immoral and disregards our most sacred precepts of the inherent worth and dignity of each human being."
I agree wholeheartedly with Rev. Schlosser and to quote him once more: "We can't afford this future, morally or financially. This path has cost us dearly. There's no official count for Afghan civilians killed by this war, but it's well into the thousands, many of them children. Others were breadwinners whose deaths plunged their families into poverty. Some were beloved community leaders with whole villages depending on them."
Amen!
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