“Glance at Pross from her left, and she looks like a normal, fun-loving girl, with a pretty face and a joyous smile. Then move around, and you see where her brothel owner gouged out her right eye.”

Injustices like human trafficking are difficult to read about. For me, several thoughts scramble around in my brain. How could humans treat each other like this? Why isn’t more being done to stop this? What can I do? Attrocities like this happen all over the globe, there’s too much to be done. There are other problems to focus on. There are problems that hit closer to home. I’ll just depress myself by focusing on tragedy, why not focus on making life happy for me and my friends? Someone has to live a happy life or else what are we fighting for?

It doesn’t take long anymore to talk myself into a state of inaction. I only say so because my guess is that many of us do the same thing.Even if you decide to act, there’s a whole new set of decisions to make. Where can you be the most effective? Is it better to help monetarily or by volunteering? Which issues are more important?

I haven’t come up with good answers to these questions myself. For now, I think I can offer two suggestions.

1. Take time to read and think about the injustice you see around you in the world. Learn about what works on a personal and global level rather than just depending on the ideals you’ve picked up over the years. Knowing helps.
2. Pick some organization that you can trust and send them $5-10 a month (several watchdog groups rate charities for their effectiveness and honesty). It’s not much commitment, but you’re helping and reminding yourself that there are people out there who are in trouble.

Found via reddit

The Girl Effect

We don’t invest in communication to inform you about our products; we aim to promote ourselves. That’s why we give you slogans and symbols instead of facts. We are not sharing information so much as we are spreading mystification. We are the deities of the new age; you accept us as all-powerful and all-knowing because you see our power and our presence everywhere. Your friends work for us, your smaller companies are owned by us, your politicians answer to us, everything is sponsored by or dictated by us. We seem to control everything, to stand over humanity like eternal gods.

When you purchase our products, it’s not tennis shoes or jeans or soft drinks you are really after; it’s the aura of power. To children in the ghetto of the United States, Nike represents the wealth and status they long for. To shoppers in Italy (who have a heritage of much healthier and tastier food), McDonald’s symbolizes the modern age they so desperately want to participate in. We rule over you because we have persuaded you that we are Divine.

But all gods have a secret vulnerability: we cease to exist when people no longer believe in us. We seem to be invulnerable, but we could be dispelled as absolutely as the gods of ancient Greece if you recognized us for the phantoms that we are. We work around the clock, filling the world with our temples and our images, because we know that one day humanity is bound to wake up from this long nightmare.*

*I did not write this.

WIRED: Scientists Find Another, More Reasonable Universe

Thanks, Johnny Depp, for making me an outcast in my own town. Before you know it,pubs and movie theaters will be hanging those big yellow “low clearence” bars across their doors – preventing people like me from enterin. I don’t like where this is going. Not one bit.

It’s time that those of us on the fringes of height rally together – tall and short alike. And remember the words of one of the pioneers in the size-equity movement: “Size matters not!”

::This is from my trip into Norwich, England for the first time. It got lost in my drafts folder.::

I’m writing this from a train headed for Norwich (don’t pronounce the w). I’ve got a bit under an hour and a half on the train, so I’ve got some time to rest and collect some thoughts while being soothed by the sounds of the train and the three English businessmen to my right who frequently interrupt their friendly conversation to speak very forcefully to someone on their cell phone. I’m amused by this. Also, about 20 minutes into the trip, a kid ran into my car, stopped, and yelled back, “There’s another one coming this way!” Then he ran back through the door and another kid walked out real casual-like. He walked into the space between cars and disappeared around a corner until the conductor caught up with him. At the conductor’s instruction, he walked back up the isle and then back down again – this time followed by about 5 of his friends. Stow-aways. Sweet.

The flight on Air India was very bearable. Turns out, not a lot of people enjoy overnight flights so there was lots of space to stretch out (not to mention the extra airline pillows). I did manage to nod off for a bit in the middle of the flight, but otherwise I was kept company by a guy named Phil who was headed back to London after an extended stay with friends in the US. So we chatted for a while about travel and the differences between our countries and “What is that between the salad and the yogurt?” and “What in the world is going on with this Indian television they’re showing us?”

Side-note: We just passed between a water-treatment plant that looked exactly like one you might find in the US and a field of cows. Ah, home.

1. That humanity progresses – that is we evolve, learn, and transcend through our timeline.
2. That Love is an action, an art which is probably why he uses the term “Loving” instead of love. As an art, Loving must be studied and practiced and mastered.

He says there are several premises that people hold to be true which lead them to conclude that love does not need to be learned, but is in fact very easy. The first being that people believe Love is about being loved rather than loving.

I’ll buy that. I’d say that most conversations I have about relationships are focused on how well my friend’s partner is loving them, not on how well my friend is loving their partner. Think of all the complaints – they don’t treat me right, they did this or that wrong or don’t do it well enough, I’m not attractive enough, how can I make myself sexier or more lovable?

If we believe love is about being loved, then we turn our partners into performers and we turn ourselves into commodities. The groundwork is laid for unhealthy expectations and unhealthy self-image. It denies the worth that is inherent in our humanity and the respect that should come from that. It denies the depths that lie within ourselves and those around us.

I believe that every person is worthy of a basic (and strong) level of love and respect simply for the matter of them being human. This respect cannot be lost to character or crime. It cannot be weighted. It cannot be tapered or buffered. It just is. Any affection or relationship – positive or negative – has to be built on top of that basic love and respect of human life. From what I’ve heard so far, that’s the basic direction this book is headed and I’m excited to read what Fromm has to say.

So…what do you think countries, companies, and individuals can do to make the world better in 2008?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDqs-OZWw9o]

found via The Official Google Blog

Oh! Gravity. kicks off with its title track and gets straight to the point with images of scars and fractures in shady, dimly lit spaces – liquor stores and back seats of cars. We’re broken and worn-down and we’re falling apart. It’s a plea to Gravity as if it were a Greek god who could bestow on us the power to come together. Instead we divide in order to concur, but we divide ourselves. Hatred gets passed down through bloodlines and we draw lines in the sand with the blood we spill.

Even when we unite, we unite against other people. We divide in the name of race, country, class, religion, and love. So what else can we ask to reunite us besides a universal law of nature?

Some have just given up and labeled humanity a violent, divisive race, but I think that’s too easy. We are sloppy and uncommitted to reunion, but we ache for it. We grope for it in the back seats of cars and in front of cameras and on barstools. We strip down and show off our scars in hopes that someone else will have the same ones and love us for it. Or maybe we paint ourselves to cover the flaws and try to present a perfect, unbroken skin. Or maybe we hide and don’t let anyone in at all.

Now I’m not a total cynic – I have some really good relationships. It’s not all rain-clouds and mud puddles, so cheer-up, Grumpy Bear!

True – there are some incredible displays of love and unity and family to be seen. Those are things to hold onto and strive for, but I can’t help but think it would be naïve to think that’s the norm. The number of people who live alone is increasing and the older we get, the lonelier we tend to be*. We’re also seeing health and psychological consequences of our loneliness. And I shouldn’t even need to cite examples of the schism in politics and poverty.

So here’s the question I feel I’m left with: Am I a uniting force or a dividing force?

Does the way I live my life bring people together or cause quarrels? Do I point to the poor and the victims of injustice or do I turn my head? Do I ignore or do I put on my gloves and dig in. When I fight (and by all means, do fight) do I fight against or do I fight for and with?

*Schnittker, Jason. “Look (Closely) At All The Lonely People.” Journal of Aging & Health; Aug2007, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p659-682, 24p

Oh! Gravity.
by Switchfoot

There’s a fracture in the color bar
In the backseat of a parked car
By the liquor store where the streetlight
Keep her company ’til the next night

In the same town, there’s the same scar
In the same glow of the liquor store
By the freeway, where the headlight
Keep her company ’til the next night

Oh! Gravity.
Why can’t we seem to keep it together?
Sons of my enemies,
Why can’t we seem to keep it together?

In the back room of the Pentagon
There’s a thin man with a line drawn
With a red jaw and a red bite
Watch the headline on the next night

Why this tragedy?
Why can’t we seem to keep it together?

In the fallout, the fallout
We found out the hype won’t get you through
We’re connected, connected
I meant it, the hype won’t get you through

I’m sure we have pictures from Iraq that could give us a pretty good idea of what Iran could look like if we decide to go to war.

I started following the news pretty heavily while I was staying in England, but that faded out when I got back since it was getting too depressing – plus, too be honest, a knowledge of what’s going on in the world is not as necessary over here if you want to stay culturally relevant.

Reading the news makes me sick – partially because of the corruption and violence, partially because it stirs up a need within me to act and change things in some way.

I figured a lot of you would be interested to know that Ze Frank is up to something again in light of the recent writer’s guild strike. I guess he figured that someone had to supply us with content. So here you go.

There is at least one more video at this point. He’s also got his readers submitting videos of stories to entertain us while the writers are out. Pretty interesting. Gosh do you think there’s a point to this? Is it possible that we as people can interact with and entertain each other without paying for produced content? Hmmm…

Two thoughts:

1. I was reading Candide the other day and one of the characters told her life story to the others while they were on a boat because she said it was customary to tell stories on voyages to pass the time.
2. I’ve had several conversations with people about how much of our conversation is made up of quotations and recounting movie scenes. My parents’ generation did not do this. We do. I’m not making a judgment, just an observation.

Impotence, maybe, is the word.

When it comes down to it, I’m not ok with what our country is doing. I’m not ok with the death. I’m not ok with the feeling that I’m getting blood on my hands while being distracted by my luxurious, consumerist lifestyle. I know it’s more complicated than this, but I just want us to stop fighting. How can those consequences be worse than what’s happening now?

Weltschmerz (velt-schmertz) is a sadness over the evils of the world.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I act in response to this feeling like I should. I too easily jump from anger to giving up. It’s one thing to voice my opinion in some perceived political arena; it’s another thing entirely to enact change and to change yourself. I’m sure there are tons of ways I could change things for the better around me – ways that aren’t even that hard or inconvenient, but I don’t. Honestly, I think I’m too comfortable in my free, luxurious, democratic, consumerist lifestyle. I need my Wednesday latte and my 2-3 albums a month, and my iPhone. I need my homework done, I need to go to the pub, I need to surf the web and relax at home.

A few of my friends are reading the book of Isaiah together and one of them made the observation that when Isaiah talks about the judgment of Israel, it’s because they’ve strayed. Not just because they’ve strayed from God, but because they’ve neglected the poor and the sick and the widows. You can take Isaiah for whatever you think it is – I’m not making an argument from authority here – but something about that prods me a little. Can I honestly say that I don’t have any responsibility for these people or do I just choose to ignore it because it’s hard or inconvenient?

Maybe I should take his advice and start to pay attention to how I can be meeting the needs around me. Love is destructive to the ego. I can do it in small ways at first and gradually divert my attention outside of myself.

Just a stream of consciousness…

End.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BREED TERRORISM

Yes folks, universal health care is about fighting terror, not about paying $6.50 for your medication or being covered for emergency surgery. My coworker pointed me to this sweet gem of a story on ThinkProgress.org. Now, I’m not a regular reader, but it looks to me like Think Progress has a massive slight liberal bias and most would agree that FOX falls on the other end of that spectrum. But I think it’s important to note that this is not “conservative behavior” if there is such a thing. This is FOX News behavior.

I’m amazed on a fairly regular basis at what passes for news and commentary on FOX. Poor show old chaps.

PS – check out the cavuto in the screen capture from FOX. If you’re not sure what a cavuto is, watch this.

I just started learning about Ron Paul’s campaign and I like what I see so far.  Smaller government? Not trying to force our will on other governments’ internal business? Trying to correct our mistakes instead of pushing through them? Sounds good to me. I think he’s worth following. Let’s just say that if we had Ron Paul running against Obama, I’d have a hard time casting my vote, but I wouldn’t be too worried eiter way.

In the category of misleading article titles: Putin’s Missiles Blow Up G8. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that thinking that Putin had actually fired missiles at the G8 conference… No, but I guess he has them pointed in that direction because he doesn’t like our missile defense system. Great. I missed the first cold war, maybe now I’ll get to see what it was like. Has Putin been watching too much 24 lately?

Oh, and US News? Nuts to you.

I live at the Dawg Haüs now. I like it.

We have a fire pit.

I downgraded from a RAZR to my old Samsung x495. The RAZR’s software kinda bugs me. I don’t enjoy using it as much and I can’t feel it vibrate if I’m doing anything other than sitting down or standing in a quiet room.

This is mostly useless information for you. But Ron Paul, check him out.

• Run your software updates, on Monday Apple released updates to iTunes and Quicktime. The update mostly concerns the new Apple TV which is shipping this month. You’ll find a new Apple TV control panel in iTunes and the option to make coverflow full screen (which is pretty sweet-looking). There are also new sorting options in iTunes and bug and security fixes in QT. DVD Studio Pro and Backup 3 (from .Mac) have also recently been updated

• Picasa improvements! Last night, Google updated Picasa Web albums by bumping storage in free accounts up to 1GB and implementing a new search feature. Make sure to log into your Picasa account and make your photos searchable to take part.

Onward and upward

This week was the first time I noticed that our school paper did not have a story about The Chief on the front page. Since the University of Illinois decided to retire its controversial mascot, the story has held a place on the front page almost every day. Most of the time it even got the main headline or main photo above the fold. Of course, the Chief issue still makes its way into the editorials and letters to the editor. Many people write about the Chief as if their rights have been violated or their religion had been banned or even as if a family member had passed away. Actually, what I’m most reminded of is the reaction of a child who has his toy taken away. Some people have even threatened to stop supporting the university financially and encouraged others to do so if the Chief tradition is not maintained.

That’s like refusing to donate to the Red Cross because they changed their logo.

Despite these worries, the University began receiving huge donations almost immediately after the announcement was made to retire the Chief from people who thought well of the school, but didn’t want to support a practice that they felt was harmful and racist.

Still to come… My thoughts on the Lost Tomb of Jesus and how to combine two very unpopular things in order to convince no one of your stance on abortion.