Banned commercials - 1961 flintstones cartoon

The Snowy Owl

They're hanging around south of their stomping grounds for longer than expected, which works out well for us human gawkers. I'm curious to see how long they stay and how many years till they come again. As is obvious by current BC temperatures, nature is in a state of carbon induced flux, so maybe if we're (un)lucky enough, the owls just might stay.

An low and behold the Short-eared owl: a fairly rare owl in BC, it too was resting in the Snowy's vicinity. Boundary bay seems to be a rich source of food for many predators, hopefully this is kept in mind as the Delta-Port and extending highways pave through this so called "Agricultural Land Reserve".

OK Go - Needing/Getting - Official Video

As an era ends...

and these walls are only a memory, I feel motivated to post an old poem I just found as I was moving precious shit into boxes.

Talk About Escapism

As I become, one in nature

I feel the plants form my future

For a new outlook is all

it'll take not to fall

And I found it now

but manifest it how?

Find what you need

And for it plead

Become scared

Mission declared

Fight past feeling

Fuck the kneeling

Tell her what you feel

describe what's real

If it ain't her

Start over

But when life becomes good

You couldn't but you should

And so the mountains fail me

And something I've seen before I see

This time is perfectly planned

With coincidences that land

If life was like this forever

It may not be clearer

But my arms relax well

Even if in hell

With her body on mine

My life I'd enjoy fine

So where oh Lord

do you fit in?

Since God I know you listen

So hear me right fuckin now

I want to live out your mission

And though I'm confused

I'll look past the torment

A follower as Job

If only you'll let me be used

So know that Lord,

That I am deathly ready

To die by your sword

I can't help it however

if ruminations control me

And I'm blinded forever

I'm content to live/die like this

with one condition

that when her and I kiss

I will know you're not vexed

for if you are

I will always be surly depressed

And though I can't know you

as well as I'd like

I ask that she will get through

While humans may not understand

and though feelings of nuclear strife will follow,

You have the last command.

And though I may sin

And induce my own laceration

I believe in the Shroud of Turin

-----------------------------------------------

And so just typing that out has me broken down. May of 2003 is what it was dated. It alludes to a host of multiple different ideas and actions that I knew would affect me and my mind into the distant future. Though I feel now that it was the beginning of the end of my "faith", at the time I was a slightly skeptical person but was also an obsessively devout Christian. Yet, slowly I dabbled in not living the Bible out in it's most literal sense. 2003 was a polarizing year for me where the seeds were laid to sow years of extreme despair.

Snowy Owl Invasion

Sick nature clips in this Sitka documentary against the pipeline!

...and the perspective with which the film comes from is one which I share; even aside from the environmental degradation of an oil spill, surfers will go mad not surfing and regardless what aspect of the ocean brings us joy we will be denied it. I cannot imagine a BC coast without the multitudes of magnificent and rare birds we are able to regularly enjoy during all seasons, and thus loath the future spill coming to this coast.

Naturally I will do the minuscule things I am able and willing to do, sign online petitions, vote against the Conservatives, join the odd street protest; but in the end I am sure the pipeline will be constructed and a few eye blinks later we will be profoundly angry at ourselves for not doing more to have avoided the inevitable.

Tipping Barrels from Sitka on Vimeo.

RMR: Radical Groups

Pondering thoughts on deliberating about thinking about thinking about the philosophy of thinking about thinking about thinking.

Nobody is in control

or of what they know

either how they act

or sentience thought of as fact

somehow I feel ok

if as a plant I don't even grow

seeing much pass

understanding is always subjective

If I don't get taller or greener

nobody can say an observing plant can't see.

yet we say things are said

and act different

than we think about thinking.

Interesting propaganda move, or a benevolent US military?

US navy frees Iranians held by pirates

A curious action on behalf of America. Americans saving Iranians is surely a strange headline for Iranians to read, but why would the US military help people they seemingly want to kill? As the war drum beats throughout the republican presidential candidate race the timing seems particularly odd.

One thing is for sure, Iran has a lot of oil and America wants it.

Considering the malevolent actions Americans have historically committed in the name of getting that precious precious oil, surely their campaign against Iran is driven by similar interests...

and maybe, in the name of winning Iranian hearts and minds, saving them is in the same precious oil interest.

If only North Korea had oil... maybe Americans would, from time to time, save them too.

The Big Bang Theory - 'Neil deGrasse Tyson'

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science and Faith

Neil deGrasse Tyson on intelligent design

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Maybe Were Not As Smart As We Think We Are

OCD presents itself early in life...

and how it's treated will determine the quality of life for the duration of life. Thus a keen eye for childhood anxiety and depression is key to ensuring the child doesn't kill him/herself as an adult.

I often wonder about the etiology of my own OCD, and this study provides me clues. In fact to this day I struggle with oral and tactile sensitivities, and though these sensitivities have varied since childhood they all share a common thread: they occupy my mind to such a strong degree I have no choice but to analyze them incessantly. It's to the point where I cannot focus on immediate surroundings until I "think" through it (thus fuelling the OCD) or accept it (thus theoretically reducing the OCD)... regardless this takes much time, and when I'm forced to endure this in public I become exponentially anxious. Unfortunately analyzing has become a compulsion of mine... a "mental compulsion" is what psychologists have termed it... and since it's not a pysical compulsion I can hide mental turmoil and appear "normal". Yet appearing "normal" has become an obsession, and as such I've become a very good actor. Few things in my mind actually match my actions... but I digress... the correlation this study has shown can shed a lot of light.

Other people's scent can drive me to obsessive oblivion, and how my socks feel on my feet can determine the structure of my day. If I wear a shirt with a tag I haven't ripped out it's an exercise in tolerating OCD, or if my morning bowel movement just doesn't feel right I'm forced to deal with the tactile torment until I... well there is no "until"... the sensation of just not feeling right is there until my brain finds something else to obsess on, in which case the torment continues.

The fact this this has been discovered as an indication of OCD in children is monumental. If we can notice these symptoms in children and get them therapy while they're brains are still developing they will have a higher quality of life.

The cognitive restructuring I'm doing to my own mind via therapy, drugs, meditation and education is taking too long. As an adult it's a process that takes decades, however as a young child the potential to develop a balanced brain is in full effect. The child's brain won't need cognitive restructuring if it develops and structures itself without obsessive reactions to life's stimuli.

"Of course, Prof. Dar says, all children have particular habits and preferences, and they're not all precursors to OCD. So what should parents watch for to correctly characterize normal and potentially pathological behavior? "If you see that a child is very rigid with rituals, becoming anxious if unable to engage in this behavior, it is more alarming," he explains. Also, age is a factor. A habit exhibited by a five- or six-year-old is not necessarily a predictor of OCD. If the same behavior continues to the ages of eight and above, it could be a warning sign, especially if accompanied by anxiety or distress."

Only 12 Spotted Owls left in BC!!

BC’s Spotted Owl All But Extinct

I find myself disturbed.

I find myself deep in negative wonder

how I let this happen.

Growth and development I guess.

The ingredients to a good economy.

I guess.

Human priorities.

Human houses

of unneeded sizes.

Bureaucrats who zone without regard for life,

forestry workers who log "because it's their job",

average apathetic Joes who don't care

but think they do

and stake claim on good intentions.

Caring, "it's not my job" says "we".

And a culture of land rape but without hate

because indifference is a powerful tool

and properly used

win elections as it seems...

dead owls are good for the economy.

Magic mushrooms eaten by Reindeers

Krauss: Remembering Christopher Hitchens

"Just before leaving his company the last time I saw him, in one of those poetic accidents that makes life so unexpectedly enjoyable, I was reading a newspaper piece at his kitchen table about an emerging effort to ensure that young people at elite institutions preserve their Catholic upbringing during and after College. When describing the temptations to depart from piety, the author wrote: “Exposed to Nietzche, Hitchens, co-ed dorms and beer pong, such students are expected to stray.”

I reflected on what a remarkable tribute to the man this simple sentence represented. To be so overpowering in one’s cultural impact that one can be mentioned without explanation is one thing, but to be sandwiched between Nietzche and beer pong is an honor that very few of us can so hope to deservedly achieve."

Click here for the full piece.

"How the Grinch Occupied Whoville"

It never ceases to amaze me that cops are always willing to stifle the rights of their fellow proletariate.

I guess a good cop is like a good soldier, ready to sacrifice life, dignity, thought and justice to protect the wealthy.

Instead of turkey at Christmas, we should eat pigs.

Mennonites have an affinity with N. Korea through slave labour. And so do the russians.

kim and the mennonites. who cares if the mennonites care less about Kim Jong-Il. Mennos whent thru the same shit. Then they should be able to identify.

But do they?

Are mennonites today asking "now that il is dead, what can we do to stop the the Stalin like gulags in N Korea? Or even in russia? Shit, do they even KNOW

that russia is hosting slave camps

filled with north koreans?

I didn't know until last week, and I'm a menno my damn self. Do I care? HELL YA, but when I bring it up guess what? the subject will be changed.

I am troubled. Some call it 'white guilt'. some call it 'ocd'. some call it whatever they're brains call it and never think of it again.

cool

maybe for the next few minutes I'll do that too....

before I die of empathy while surrounded in apathy.

Hitchens is in Hell and it's good to hear.

Heaven and hell, the judgment nobody wants to talk about unless you die as a believer... which then means you are going to heaven... but who's going to hell? And can believers really know who's going where?

Matthew 8:8-12 NIV

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Well, to some degree the answer is apparent: if you don't have faith (regardless of one's volition) you are doomed to hell.

So whatever the hell "hell" is, Hitchens is there and I appreciate the honesty of hearing it. The Richard Dawkins disciples who are offended have no reason to be; but in fact should laud the consistency of Bryan Fisher for saying it, for consistency can be a rare virtue when attempting to follow Jesus' teachings. If a Christian were to exercise some mental gymnastics and come up with a reason why Hitchens may not be in hell... ... ...

the scriptures may as well be thrown out...

... .... ....

LIFE

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