The Ignorance of Others

Yesterday was meant to be a wonderful day. I had volunteered to be a chaperone for my daughter's 4th grade class on their field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Having chaperoned 2 previous trips for my daughter over the course of the last couple of years I knew what was expected of me and I always try to enhance the experience of the children in my group. My daughter seems to love it when I go with her and her classmates because I try to make it a very entertaining experience, wherever we are going.

As much fun as we were having throughout the day, there were multiple incidents with various other museum goers that just utterly drove me crazy. The "incidents" that I am talking about would be the multiple counts of ignorance and outright bullying that I witnessed over and over again. Having gone to a ton of public places throughout my life I am very familiar with such actions and come to expect a certain amount of it. As a matter of fact, I am always mentally prepared to deal with things like this no matter where I am because, well to put it bluntly, it just happens. You cannot avoid running into someone who has absolutely no regard for other people. That is, in the case of adults. However, what about experiencing this in children?

Who and Why? Is it their upbringing?

Certain people are just rude. It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing you will eventually experience the rudeness of others. We have all seen it, someone cutting in front of someone else in line. A person just bogarting their way in front of another person while they are reading a plaque on the wall. There are a variety of ways that people can be rude to their fellow man, or woman. There might even be times in which you or I have been the one committing the rude act.

What about children however? Sure, there is a certain amount of rudeness that comes from kids of various age groups. But in most cases I think we see or recognize that most children might be acting in such a manner simply because they don't know any better. Maybe they are being rude because they don't know that they are affecting those around them. Or maybe, they are acting this way because it is just how they act at home or it is how they were raised to be. I know for a fact that there are certain people that have told their kids, "do what you want to do and don't worry about other people. You get what you want, what you need, no matter how it bothers the people around you."

How do I "know this for a fact"? Well, because I have talked to people over the years and this is what a couple parents have told me that they teach their children. I even had a friend once who raised his kids with a similar mantra. "Surely" he told me, "in a world as cruel and as harsh as this one, we should teach our children to be as aggressive as the person next to them, as the person they are in competition with." To a certain degree I can understand where he was coming from but at the same time there has to be a degree of compassion for other people.

So where or how do we draw the line between caring for ones self and making sure you do not hurt or harm other people? That is hard to tell sometimes, especially where children are concerned. I have always taught my kids that they should always make sure they are safe and get what they want in life. However, you always want to be conscience of those around you. Are you taking something for yourself at anothers expense? If so, then you must reconsider your actions. 

Cultural Differences

I like to think that at the heart of every situation there is a commonality that exists that allows people to understand each other. At the same time, no matter how much people might want to ignore it, there is a distinct racial division amongst people within this country. I think we all need to reassess who we are and how we are different AND alike. We need to realize that no matter what our differences are in regards to appearance deep down we are all human. That fact and that fact alone is all that matters. So why is it that we have such divisions amongst one another when it comes to race? I don't think I will ever find the answer to that question.

That being said, I have lived on this planet for almost 40 years now and I have seen quite a lot. I have lived in very cultural diverse areas as well as places where things are so bland they strive to add diversity. So I feel I have the right to speak my mind when it comes to racial issues because I have lived through them just like anyone else has. There are people out there who will speak on issues they do not understand because they do not have direct experience. They are speaking their thoughts on issues they really have no right to talk about because everything they say is essentially a theory not a fact.

Yesterday at the museum what I witnessed was the same thing that I have seen before. For some reason however I was angered and frustrated much more yesterday than I have been in the past. Maybe it was because it was so blatant and maybe it was because my frustration level with it had reached a boiling point. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that I had to write about it to make myself feel somewhat better about it. Maybe writing this piece about the experience will give me the chance to vent my frustrations and at the same time hopefully enlighten others to it as well.

There were a large variety of rude and ignorant acts that I saw yesterday and about 98% of them were carried out by kids from the ages of about 9 to 13. These are definitely kids who are old enough to know better. The last 2% were adults who surely should know better. In one incident we were walking up to an old steam train to see what it looked like in the drivers compartment. I stood to the side of the stairway to allow my group of 4 kids to walk up and into the compartment. I wanted them to be able to see all of it without being in their way myself. Suddenly a group of Latino children walked up the stairs with their chaperone. They all (about 6 of them) rushed up the stairs and literally pushed my kids out of the way and stood directly in front of them. The adult with the group followed right behind the kids and pushed his way in as well. He even stretched and leaned over one of my kids blocked her view entirely so that he could see better. I immediately walked up as far as I could on the stairs and lead my kids back down and out of the exhibit. I figured it was best to just leave the area before more anger and frustration grew.

Another time we were watching a very large avalanche simulation machine describe and show how the grains and rocks in an avalanche move down a slope. There were controls at the base of the machine so the kids could control the machine and see how different environments and different materials effect the avalanche. We waited our turn behind a black kid who just seemed to not want to leave even though he obviously had no clue as to what he was doing. When he finally left I guided my daughter towards the controls and she grabbed them in hand. I explained to her what they did and how it worked so she could understand what she was doing. She operated the apparatus for about 1 minute when 3 black kids her age crowded around us. They got very close and started talking so loud that my daughter and I could not hear one another.

Then as they inched in closer and closer, one of them took his hand and while my daughter was still operating the machine he pushed her hand off of it and grabbed  the control. As he did this he started to try and wedge his way into where she was standing, until I intervened. I asked them to kindly move back and give us some room and explained that my daughter was till using the machine. I said when she was done they could have their turn and that everybody should get a turn. The one who grabbed the control from her seemed to get it, but one of the other kids actually said, "forget it cracker its my turn now!" Keep in mind that this kid was probably about 9 or 10 years old. I was more shocked that he would say something like that to an adult more than anything else at that point. I gently put my arms down on either side of my daughter where she was standing so they almost formed a wall around her allowing her to freely use the controls. By this point however she just wanted to leave the area. I don't know if she was just upset or finished learning about avalanches but either way I was very upset.

Needless to say we left the area about 5 minutes later and continued on through the museum. The interactions and confrontations did not end there however. Not only did we run into more ignorance and rudeness throughout the day but I also continued to see such acts against other people as well. For example, at one point we were by a large scale model of the city of Chicago that has a few model trains going around the large model city. There was an Indian family looking at the exhibit and preparing to take a family photo standing in front of it. As they lined up for the picture there were a couple adults (not with their group) who were obviously standing back so as to not interfere with the picture.  However, there were multiple black kids who were deliberately walking in between the picture taker and the rest of the family completely not caring what was going on around them. The family taking the picture had to reset multiple times and finally moved to a new spot, unable to take the picture where they wanted to. It was almost sickening.

Salvaging the Field Trip

Although the experiences I had just described made it difficult to really enjoy ourselves we did end up having a good time. It is hard not to when you are chaperoning a field trip with your child and their friends. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is a great place and they have a bunch of fun and educational exhibits. I think my daughter really enjoyed the day and that was all I could ask for.

As far as the people who exhibited a complete disregard for their fellow human beings goes I fee sad for them. I think as they continue to grow up they will either realize their actions define them or they will not. For those who realize this truth they will hopefully do what they can to become a person who is not only good to themselves but to others as well. Those who do not see this will likely live a life filled with agony and despair. I know, that might be a bit of a stretch but there is a whole section of our society who feels that it is pointless to get along with other cultures and that they are doing their culture a favor by alienating it from that of other people.

I know from experience that nothing good ever comes out of putting yourself in a corner and ignoring both the people and the environment around you. We should always embrace the cultures of others as a way to learn more about them. If we could all see one another as a fellow human being and not as the color or culture they portray on the outside we might have a chance to get along and learn something. The ability to learn and adapt is one of the major things that separates us from that of the animal kingdom. Why would we want to ignore what other people can teach us only to remain stationary in society? I think the more we learn from each other the closer we can get to having a true understanding of the world we live in.

The Ukrainian Crisis

There are quite a few conflicts in the world at any one time. Think about it, when was the last time that you remember the news not talking about a war, conflict, or any other military action somewhere in the world? My entire life I cannot think of one time, one solitary moment of peace. Can you?

 The Past

I am half Ukrainian and half Polish but All American. I have always been an extremely patriotic individual. But that does not mean I have forgotten my roots. I really wish that I had more time with my grandmother to be able to find out more about that portion of my family and heritage. The biggest thing I remember being told was a story of when my Grandmother and Grandfather running from the Nazis through Europe on their way to the United States, as most did during that time. I remember hearing about how they would routinely hide in trenches or abandon and burnt out homes as they fled the chaos and calamity of the war raging around them. My Grandmother was pregnant with my father at the time and my uncle was probably around 10 years old I believe. 

My father ended up being born in Austria and when they finally made it to the United States they settled in Pennsylvania. Over the years they all learned really good English and did what everyone else did.The eventually moved to Chicago and when he grew up and got married, had children, and started a life devoid of all wars. We lived for a while in a place called "the Ukrainian Village". It was a Ukrainian community in Chicago that tried to keep Ukrainian customs alive in new generations of people growing up in America. 

I am mentioning this because our country, America, has done a wonderful job through the generations building a country with a wide variety of people, cultures, and ideals. Although some might argue that point and claim that the crime and racism that exists is a clear example of why it is not working, I think most would agree with me that it is. So what about the rest of the world? What about the Ukraine? I am asked often by those around me who know what my heritage is what my thoughts are about the crisis that is going on over there. I am asked how I feel about it or if I know more than they do.

A Cultural & Real Separation

There is a lot going on over in Europe that I have no idea about. I'll admit, I don't really pay much attention to what is going on over there. Why would I? With what has been happening over in the Ukraine I have been paying attention to the news a little more but I still never made a huge effort to search out or find specific programs geared towards information on the conflict. From what I do know however it does see like there are some really bad things happening over there and it does not appear to be slowing down at all. On the contrary, it seems to be gaining momentum, not losing it.

I cannot say for sure what it will take to end the conflict but it does seem like some neighboring countries might need to get involved. And why not? Some of what is happening could very well spill over the Ukrainian borders and into their lands. Now, on top of the troops that Russia has been amassing on the borders, pro-separatist militias are taking over various government buildings and areas. People are fighting and dying and I think it is just a matter of time before everything escalates into full war. 

It is difficult for people here in the US to get involved in what is happening there. We just do not have enough information or enough cultural knowledge to really know what's best. The various factions and ideals that people are fighting for are foreign to us. Russia built certain portions of the country and populated others. Russia also dominated the Ukraine for many years and when they finally got their independence it was long overdue.  The problem is that it was relatively recent and there are still a lot of people there who are Russian at heart. It makes for a difficult situation and again, one that the United States should stay out of. That is, unless the prevailing government, the true government of the country sincerely asks us for help. Should that happen we will really need to determine what is right and what our previous obligations might be. How bad do we want to piss of Russia?

Spiderman 2: Just How Good is it?

As much as I love to watch movies and televisions shows, well.. anything that tells a story really. But as much as I enjoy that, as a writer the one thing that I typically stay away from writing reviews of movies or television. Unfortunately I do not have a good reason why, I just do not write them. However, in this case I will make an exception simply because the movie was just that good. I am talking about Spiderman 2.

The Overall Setting

Another thing that I don't do quite as often as other people is go to the theater. With all of the media technology available to the general public I find it far too convenient (and comfortable) to watch movies or any other video for that matter in the comfort of my own home and on my own couch. This time I was surprised however by the eldest of my offspring. My beautiful 16 year old daughter bought two tickets to the 3D IMAX opening night showing of Spiderman 2. If I did anything right as a father it was to instill a love for all things Spidey in my kids.

We had what I thought were really good seats in a not so crowded theater at 10pm. I opted for the no popcorn and no drink watching style because there is no pause button when your in the IMAX theater with nearly 50 of your neighbors. I did not want anything to pull me away from the movie. So my daughter and I sat through the previews and eagerly awaited the opening scenes. I must say that I didn't expect the movie to open on Richard Parker (Peter Parkers father) and his wife Mary on the run from something and leaving poor little peter with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. The story tries to build some back story and maybe pick up a little from where the last film left off.

After the excitement with the Parkers comes the good stuff. While Gwen Stacey awaits Peter at their high school graduation ceremony he is busy trying to help the police stop a highjacking of some high-grade plutonium from Oscorp. Like most movies this entire scene is filled with action, crashes, and explosions. The best part however is the work and special effects done on Spiderman himself. There is a minute or so of him flying really high and web-swinging between skyscrapers coming very close to the ground before pulling himself back up again on a web from his wrist.

I had a really good feeling about the films special effects and attention to detail when I saw Spiderman make his first appearance falling gracefully  to the ground and swinging into the action. You could see the wind moving around the loose bits of the suit on Peter's back as he cut through the wind like a professional skydiver. Everything just looked very realistic. The little details like that are things that are missed sometimes and it is those small details that many of us are looking for. Attention to detail.

 Special Effects

Today the words special effects just does not seem so special anymore. The movies made today are usually filled with various CGI scenes and other camera tricks to get the director the shot that they want. Sometimes there is more money spent on the computer generated graphics that what some high level CEO's make in Chicago or New York. Thing is, with all that money being spent there are a lot of movies that would have been better off investing that money elsewhere. The CGI work on a film can either make it look beyond fantastic or just make it look cheap. It is an art these days to be able to take the CGI work done by some very talented individuals and merge it with the live action shots and edit it all together. The team that worked on Spiderman 2 deserve an oscar!

When I originally saw the trailers for this movie I was pretty upset about a couple things. They were assumptions really, but from what In was seeing and what I remembered from past films I saw the whole Jaimi Foxx as Electro thing as a mistake. Then when I saw how they decided to present Electro I thought, "oohh.. mistake number 2." You know what though.. I have never been more wrong in my life! First of all Jaimie Foxx did a marvelous job of portraying the juxtaposition of his characters personalities. He was wonderful as the loner, shy, alone, introverted genius and equally as terrifying as the powered up and mad as hell Electro!

The lightening effects used were very realistic in my opinion and beyond that the angles and type of shots they used to capture the action and where they blended the CGI was just fabulous. Man, there's a word I do not use that often. Still.. I found myself thrilled at the prospect of the big fight between Spidey and Electro just based on seeing how they made his powers evolve and change. Then, as he used them against Spidey and objects like walls and cars, it just looked great. Afterwards I was excited about Jaimie Foxx and happy they chose him because he did a great job and I am not sure if anyone else could have played that role quite like he did.

As the Story Goes...

One of the biggest ongoing arguments with any and all of these so-called "comic book movies" is will they or wont they stay true to the original story? Then people argue that maybe they shouldn't. Maybe they should use it as a basis only but explore other ideas as they build the story. I for one am a believer that the comic book should not be messed with. I feel that there are certain things that are shall we say.. adjustable. Yet, other aspects of the original story should be left alone. If you're going to make a movie based on a comic book it is just like doing a remake or making a movie from a book. You have the basis for your story and you should stay true to the story and the vision the author had for their characters. But the visual medium gives you a little bit of a different outlook on how you can present those things to the audience.

With Spiderman you have a character that is universally loved by all and there are a ton of people who are more than aware of the original story. So to mess with the story is to doom your project to fail with the true fans from the start.  A great example of this is the web shooters for the Toby Maguire movies and the Andrew Garfield movies. They decided to make Spiderman have organic web shooting ability in the first movies but in the present Andrew Garfield movies they made it so that Peter Parker had to design and develop the web shooters - just like in the comic book. This was something that might have been seen by some as a small part of the story but to the true fans it was something that really turned them off right from the start on the Maguire movies.

The same can be said about the Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey relationships with Peter Parker. Both movies took a different path on this but again, the Garfield movies got it right once more. With a character that has such a loyal and devoted following as this one does it is hard to go against the grain. They tried it with the Toby Maguire versions and because of that they had an uphill battle from the start. The present incarnation of Spiderman is so much more a movie that follows the original story and because of this the fan base is really getting behind it. At this point and especially after Spiderman 2 has been released if I was Toby Maguire I would be embarrassed to show my face in public.

Turn on the Lights

I'm not all that excited about the new X-Men movie and there is at least a year and a half until the next Spiderman, if there is a third movie. I would think there would have to be. Everything is made in threes these days. Overall I was very happy with this movie and I am sure if I tried really hard I could find a few faults with the movie. I don't want to do that though. I have always hated when a movie critic would over-analyze a movie and tell people it was no good as a result. There is a time and place for that type of examination of the final product but it is not necessary for the fans. Our job is to enjoy the movie. It is entertainment and that is precisely how we should look at it.

As far as entertainment goes I was excited, thrilled, anxious, happy, and sad throughout the film. This movie was well worth the money to see. If my opinion was worth anything I would try very hard to get everyone involved with the film to hear my opinion. If my opinion mattered I would want them all to know how much I absolutely loved the movie. How much I was happy they made the film exactly how they made it and just how happy I was about all of their acting. This movie was a thrill to watch and I will surely see it many more times before the next one comes out.

I have been a comic book fan for a very long time and Spiderman has always been my favorite. When they started making comic book movies I think I was one of the happiest geeks on the planet. So I have seen every comic book related movie produced in the last 20 years and I have loved most of them. When the first Spiderman came out you could not imagine my joy. I enjoyed it, but overall it was not what I wanted. That being said, you should already have guessed that I absolutely love this new movie. However, I will take it a bit further than that. As far as any and all comic book movies are concerned, Spiderman 2 is the absolute best comic book movie ever made!!

The Bible Series: Examining the Truth: Part 2

"The Wickedness of Mankind"

Sometimes it amazes me that God could have been so cruel. It is a big contradiction that a supposed very loving God would stoop so low. I do not assume that these articles I am publishing will make me any friends. Quite the opposite actually. I grew up Catholic. As such, I have heard it said a couple times that I do not believe in God because I was raised Catholic. Is that true? I would imagine so. It was the very strict Catholic prayer rituals and various other "rules" that first made me start to ask questions. In addition, the fact that I was inquisitive was frowned upon and that in particular got me more curious. I thought to myself, "why is the fact that I am wondering about these things a problem? Why is gaining more knowledge something that I should not seek?"

There is a lot about God that I will explore during this series of articles. I am not yet sure how far this will go. How many articles will I write and how far into the Bible will they go? Right now I am just playing it all as it comes. The one thing that I have always had a problem with in the Bible is the outright cruelness of God. God has always been touted as a loving God, a forgiving God. So that being the case why should he be so mean?

Noah

"When mankind had spread all over the world, and girls were being born, some of the supernatural beings saw that these girls were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. Then the Lord said, "I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years." In those days and even later there were giants on the Earth who were descendants of human women and the supernatural beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.

When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, he was sorry that he ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret that he said, "I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds because I am sorry that I made any of them." But the Lord was pleased with Noah.

So.. the entire world, that he created, had turned to evil. God was very displeased with the thoughts of the people. So is this to say that 100% of the people that inhabited the world were evil and deserved to die? The children too? How evil could the children have been? Maybe it was that God knew they would grow to be evil and that there was no chance they would ever be good? I find this very hard to swallow.

What about the rest of it? Before this portion of the story the Bible talks about the descendants of Adam and Eve. It goes on to describe who beget who and how old they were when they died. For anyone who is familiar with the Bible it is no surprise that the people back then lived until about 600-900 years old! Well.. that too is hard to believe. But, I suppose scientifically that could be possible. So I will leave that one alone. However, the supposed supernatural beings that roamed the earth, where did they come from? The Bible never describes where they come from before the point in which it mentions them. Who were these supernatural beings? Why did they decide to take all the beautiful women?

So all of his creations, from the people to the animals and even  the supernatural beings.. they were all so evil that they deserved to die. This hardly seems like the forgiving God that I was told about as a child. I could go on a murderous spree killing hundreds and if I truly repented and asked for forgiveness I would get it. Yet everyone else on earth needed to be wiped from the face of the planet? 

Many of the stories in the Bible seem to me to be written by people who had nothing better to do with their time. I know that is not the case, but it seems like that could have been a feasible answer. I have always said that the Bible, well, religion for that matter, is humanities explanation of where we came from before anybody had a clue about the truth. When a society exists and does not know of it's origins it leaves a big empty hole in the middle of their souls. People need to have some sort of reason for being who they are and they need to believe and understand that reasoning. Hence the Bible and the story of God.

Noah was meant to be our salvation. God loved Noah because in a time of evil he was the one person who deserved to be saved. See this too does not make sense. This is one area where I believe the people who made up the stories of God made a mistake. The world was evil and the people in it did not deserve to live. So God wiped them out. All the animals, the people, the birds and the fish... everything. Everything except Noah and his family. Given that Noah was God's one "good guy" he was instructed to build a boat with which to save his family and the animals so they could reproduce and repopulate the planet.  Again, we are treated to Gods strange ways because he tells Noah to also bring 7 pairs of "ritually clean" animals.

What is a "ritually clean" animal? Well, as far as I can tell these are the animals that are fit for sacrifice. This is another problem that I have always had with religion. Why is it necessary to sacrifice a perfectly good animal to God? What does he get out of it? Seriously. This is yet another example of why the Bible was made up by man. Only humans would think it necessary to sacrifice an animal to a God. This practice goes back eons. People have always thought it a good idea to kill an animal as an offering to their God. Why? I have no idea what significance this plays in a religion. But it seems odd that followers of God would also require it to be done. Even stranger that God himself would ask that it be done. Wouldn't you say?

Noah Makes A Sacrifice

So it is said in the Bible that when the rains stopped Noah prepared an altar and on the altar he burned one of each of the 7 "ritually clean" animals as a sacrifice to God. God was "pleased" with the smell and then decided that he would never again punish the planet or kill everybody because of what man does. So basically God admits to being wrong. How does an all-knowing deity make a mistake and kill billions of people and then say, "oops! Won't do that again."

So now Noah is tasked with repopulating the earth. One family to bring about a new civilization. Seems a bit difficult if you ask me. Think about how this would have to happen if it was true. Not only would Noah have to get his wife pregnant, but also his daughters too. His sons would have to do the same to their sisters and also their mothers. As a matter of fact, there are various places within the Bible in which incest run rampant. It is a pretty much accepted practice back then. So is having multiple wives. Where did all of this come from. Was it God that told people it was ok to live this way? It must have been since God apparently controlled everything. Maybe they were just following what their father Noah had done.

This is yet another example of the people making the Bible fit their way of life. Of course they were not about to write a book or tell a story that would convince people to stop doing things that they enjoyed. So they wrote the various things into that story. They made it acceptable for people to sleep with family members because that is what was happening then. Imagine if that was how we still lived now.. eww.

It is rather strange to me that people can look at the stories held within the Bible, try to model their lives after its teachings, when a good portion of the book is just so nasty. The book is filled with murder, rape, incest, and supernatural beings. Giants roam the planet because they are the offspring of the human females and the supernatural beings. I can only imagine those being angels. What other supernatural beings could have been around then? Either way, in some cases I think people would have a better chance if they modeled their lives after some other story.. say Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. After all.. both are just made up stories. At least in the latter no one is having sex with their daughter and killing animals on altars all in the name of God.

The Bible Series: Examining The Truth. Part 1

Part 1 - "The Greatest Story Ever Told"

Follow along with me while I begin a new project. I will look at various stories from within the bible and we will discuss the facts behind the stories. I know for a fact that many times over this same thing has been done and in some cases this might even be the same as beating a dead horse. Still, I want to go through this exercise because among other things this will allow me some insight into some of the themes in common literature as well as our own historical sense of who we are and where we come from. After-all, most of the world believes what is written in these pages. I want to see how people can be fooled so easily. Join me.

The Question: Why would anyone who is capable of rational thought choose to believe in a God who is all-knowing and in utter control of the entire Universe?


I have always had a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that there is a being out there who had, in his infinite wisdom, chose to create the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Then in a stroke of genius decides to for lack of a better word, play with his creations as he did. Take Adam and Eve as just one example. He supposedly created these two and then gives them commands or "suggestions" to do whatever they want except to eat the fruit of one tree. He then tells them the name of that tree: The Tree of Knowledge.

So he is intentionally baiting them to disobey him. Why would he give them the freedom to choose what to do and then give them an order to not touch one thing in this wonderful garden? It is almost as if he is testing them. So, if he created them in his own image why would he need to test them? Did he doubt his creation? If he was all-knowing and wise why would he doubt what he had made? This makes no sense to me.

Ultimately they failed the test, if it was a test. Afterwards he (God) gets mad and then and only then are they ashamed and forced to wear clothes because now they know that they are naked. Before the fruit debacle they were walking around naked because they had either no clue or did not care that they had their junk hanging out. There are all kinds of parrallels drawn from this story to our current (and past) selves. There are way to many to debate here. So let's pick up on another story. Shall we?

We will be going backwards a little bit, back to the very beginning, back to creation. In the beginning there was nothing. The Earth was a dark and desolate place. Well.. sure it was, until it rotated some more and then it became daytime. The bible states that God had created the light. "Let there be light", and there was light and God was pleased with what he saw. So essentially if we are to believe this we must ask ourselves, "what existed before God created the light - the Sun?" Well apparently there was nothing. So let's examine this for a second.

If there was nothing but darkness until he created the light, that would mean that there was no Sun until that point. Science tells us that when our solar system was created, it was created around the Sun. It was our Sun that generated the gravity necessary for the rocks and asteroids to coalesce into larger and larger pieces until finally a planet was formed. Well, multiple planets actually but we are only concerned with one at this point. So we have the Sun and then we have its gravity and eventually we have planets. So with this being a fact of science, I ask you how can God (or anyone for that matter) have observed an already established Earth (with oceans according to the bible) and decided to create light and thereby the Sun? Seems impossible if you ask me.

This is part 1 of the new and ongoing series in which I examine and dissect the so-called "greatest story ever told". Well, it is a story actually. I intend to prove that it is indeed just that, a story. Check back with me won't you?

Putting it out there.

Looking through the available job postings on a couple well respected "blogging" sites is rather depressing. It seems that in order to get a "staff" job writing for someone or working as a ghost writer somewhere requires a lot more than I thought. Looks like I will have to up my game a little here.

In the past I have tried to stay away from some of the personal writing that made blogging popular years ago. I was a bit more comfortable writing about generic topics or about things that I had an interest in and then researched. Lately however writing as an outlet has been a bit more helpful than I had anticipated it would be early on. I never really enjoyed airing my personal laundry on anyone, least of all the world, but sometimes it is a good thing to get it all out. Especially when the only person or thing you are facing is the white screen of a laptop. It is easier to speak my mind to a object that will not squint its eyes at me or make weird noises when I say something surprising.

There is also a sense of a sort of disconnect here. Yes, I know that after I hit "publish" it is "out there". But while I am writing everything, and while I am thinking about what to say I am faced with no response and no embarrassment. It is really easy to get things off your chest when there is nothing stopping you. Only after you have finished saying everything is there any fear of rejection or embarrassment.

Now my dog is whining. Looks like it is time for a morning walk. Hope the world enjoys my anguish for the time being.

Cable and Mobile - Teammates or Adversaries. Part 1

There will always be people who are controlling what others are using. In the 90's the cable companies became giants selling television to the consumer that they could not get anywhere else. Today data is the commodity and the cable companies are still in the game. While they managed to remain a player the mobile companies have made their way into the market and are quickly gaining more and more real estate. With this comes the ever present battles for the money that is attached to all of the various products that they have for the consumer. One such product is not something that you can touch, feel, or even see. Rather it is something that we all use but has very rapidly become one of the most important things in all of our lives today, the data that we all need so much.

DATA Wars

Back when the connections were slow data was not an issue. Nobody needed to worry about their data usage because nobody was able to download anything large enough to matter. Streaming was not a thing back then and companies like Netflix did not exist. Even so, it did not take long for entities such as Netflix to start getting into the game with ideas and business models that did not exist before and with it came a need for a slice of the pie.

Of course the cable companies were not used to people trying to move in on their business because it did not happen all that often. And when it did they were not too worried because they would either win out in court on some trumped up patent lawsuit or they would just crush the competition in other ways. Regardless they remained their own god and really answered to no one. Such was the case when they started putting caps on their bandwidth and using "bandwidth throttling" to control what their customers could use.

When the mobile companies came into the fold it was an entirely different game. The cable companies did not see that they needed to fight with them too much. On the contrary there was an opportunity for an alliance. They could pool their resources and both industries could eat up the consumer. Of course this worked well until the data that consumers used became the biggest need they had and both the cable companies and the mobile companies had the means to sell it to them. This was the start of the DATA Wars.

The ultimate loser in this scenario is the customer. It does not matter how you arrange the players or what they are fighting over. None of it matters because no matter what is going on or how it is working out the consumer losses every time. See, you would think that in our capitalistic society that the customer would be the winner. You would think that the competition between the two entities would spur lower prices and better products. After all, isn't that the model that our markets were founded on? All of these "assumptions" would be correct. That is, if your assuming that things should be this way. The problem is that none of it has happened this way. Both industries have found ways to screw the consumer while fighting the competition. Why? Because the consumer does not have any choices in the matter, because the consumer has shown a dire need for the products, and because the government that is supposed to be the oversight here is not doing anything but allowing the companies to do what they want. So again.. the customer losses every time.