Now, as this move goes against the natural instinct as set down by biology and evolution, it is interesting that from this point on humans began to modify their environment.  If you had a hill you didn’t like in front of you, you could dig it up and remove it.  No other animal goes about landscaping and or altering its environment in order to suit itself.  Animals adapt to fit in their environment, humans adapt their environment to fit them.  While this is a unique trait and I could go on for ages about all manner of topics I have read up on concerning farming and technology and humans, I will not.  Instead..

I am choosing to use this space to simply discuss why I think that humans have ruined this world and we have pushed past the point of no return (probably long ago).  Now we can try and green our industries and corporations, however, I think most of the damage is already done.  It has less to do with the current technology and how bad it is and how can we fix it than it has to do with the fact that humans are no longer in sync with nature.  We’re so far past being one with nature that we relentlessly destroy it left and right.  Sure, there are attempts to right these wrongs and preserve nature on every front.  With increasing populations and increasing standards of living more and more resources are required.  The more resources required, yup you guessed it, the more nature we must dig our way through and remove to get these unrefined resources. Technology can go as green as it wants, but the real problem is that with a finite amount of resources technology would have to improve by leaps and bounds in order to create products that do not require Earth’s materials.  As I doubt that in the next 10 – 20 years, I don’t foresee a major turn around in our “nature” as mass consumers.

10,000 years ago when we took that first step towards agriculture we were unknowingly signing a potential death warrant for planet Earth.  Nomadic human beings fit into the food chain and they were kept in check and nature was at balance, well equilibrium would perhaps be better to say.  However, agriculture provides a wealth of resources to increase populations, which is why after agriculture springs up you get larger and larger clumps of populations, eventually tribes, cities, city states, states, nations, empires and finally countries.  At the same time this larger population consumes more resources and spreads itself out taking up more of nature and inserting this odd and unnatural invention in, farming.  I think that having taken those steps to reach where we are is fascinating, but at the same time by going against nature and instinct, I think we have effectively terminated our own ecosystem.

Having disturbed the world’s ecosystems we have effectively thrown the world a real curve that equilibrium cant be reached and extinction is the only answer.  For example, sharks are hunted to disturbingly large numbers, as the top predator they have a very important role to play in the ocean, they ultimately keep the populations in check.  As we fish them to extinction we create an offset that lets their prey grow to fantastically large numbers as well as destroying an ecosystem that is millions of years in the making (sharks are as old as the dinosaurs if not older, so their ecosystem and niche is 65+ million years old). On the topic of top of the food chain stuff… humans did that too, and became the dominant animal of the planet, not environment or area, the entire planet, a fascinating accomplishment.  However, this has been abused to the point where where we wipe out animals on a whim and no longer in a number that can be easily replenished.

What I am really saying is I think that humanity has doomed itself and doomed life on the planet, for a while, I am sure without humans nature will spring back and eventually ecosystems will rebuild and animals will flourish.  I think humans are a plague upon the planet as well, we are now.. The Matrix said it best with “Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague.”

-To be honest, I don’t think that will ever happen either, I have a pessimistic view that says we’ll annihilate ourselves with either biological or nuclear weapons long before we run out of resources or nature takes its course and eliminates us.  With any luck post nuclear apocalypse animals and life will resume and the Earth will heal.. I mean it did survive impacts with large terrestrial bodies in space.. so hopefully it can survive a nuclear wash.  If so, I hope to be reincarnated as an exciting animal.. probably a squid.. or some sort of oceanic creature.

*subject to my own loose knowledge of the Middle East geography

This I have learned through personal experience and seeing other people.. people just are what they are, there is no real changes made.. only superficial ones unless you can strip yourself to your very core and take a real hard look yourself and cause a change to your inner core.

“Anything outside yourself, this you can see and apply your logic to it. But it’s a human trait that when we encounter personal problems, these things most deeply personal are the most difficult to bring out for our logic to scan. We tend to flounder around, blaming everything but the actual, deep-seated thing that’s really chewing on us.” -Dune (of course)

First off, I always wonder if it possible that there is an afterlife and if there is I wonder who gets in or if everybody gets to enjoy the afterlife.. however, the most notable people that I would like to talk to would be Plato and Carl Sagan.. Plato because he laid down his ideas over 2000 years ago.. and yet we still talk about him with such reverence and in such large amounts that he must be very very proud to know that his name has lasted this long. What an accomplishment to still be the big talk of the world over 2000 years later.. I mean.. there has literally been no amount of time where Plato wasn’t on the tip of someone’s tongue.. that is just incredible.. I hope that I can one day make my name in history so that I will one day be remembered thousands of years after my death..
Carl Sagan because he always talked about how he wished there was an afterlife so that he could live to learn more about the universe and become even more  knowledgeable about the way that the universe works.. I could probably talk to that man forever. He is easily the most accomplished and awesome person to have ever existed.. so Cosmos creator and several other awesome books, shows and everything else, I salute you.

So, humanity can be determined by conscious thought, in my opinion of course.. now i say conscious thought because if we look at the real difference between animals and ourselves, people have this amazing ability to think about the future, to use our imagination and to be able to simply think about how to deal with situations far outside the single event and reality that we live in at the present.. animals are not able to dream, well day-dream, and so it easy to think that they must not be able to daydream. This got me thinking, a rarity.

So, if animals cannot consciously think and deal with situations as they occur in realtime.. so my question about all of this is.. WHAT THE HELL DO ANIMALS DO ALL DAY?!  Do dogs and cats just wander around and then when they stop just sit their like an idling car.. I feel like it is a weird thing to imagine animals as these creatures that, when not needing to eat or poop, just sit and have nothing going on in their heads.. Weird stuff.. however, this is essentially what I think it boils down to.

With the calmness of a hunting lioness I lay in wait just behind the chair in the dining room.  The cobwebs hung off of the rafters leaving the house with the airs of a haunting.  The maroon upholstery and rugs let the room show its history to anyone brave enough to venture into the house.  The countless generations that had crossed this floor and graced this house’s archaic hallways had kept the house in its original state leaving me with a house that I had lived in long enough to call my own.

The house had always stood on the hill.  For as long as the townsfolk remembered that house had always stood, framed only by the sky, above the town as if to look down upon the commoners.  The family within had held themself as high above the town as they believed their social status commanded.  It was only upon their deaths that the house finally fell into disarray and became the haunted house that stood above the town.  This is where I had chosen to make my home, I knew that few would venture here, but those that did would pay an awful price.  This became my hunting ground.

After their move in, of which I had managed to remain hidden in the attic far from peering eyes, that I decided to finally show myself and begin the cycle anew.  I began to sneak up the stairway one stair at a time.  I moved slow enough that I would not creak a single stair, yet fast enough that I knew I would reach all of my victims that night.

As I entered the first bedroom and moved with the tactile movements of hunter.  My first victim lay upon the bed, completely unaware of my stealthily approach that signified death’s quiet footsteps.  Within moments I lay beside her arm.  She would never know that I lay beside her in her last moments.  I knew that I was doing what I was made to do, there was nothing that I enjoyed better than to be the most base creature that instincts demanded.  Finally I knew that it was time to do what I had ventured into the room for.  I reared up showing the blades that I was born to carry.  I knew that this was what I had been waiting for.

With a single swing I drove my blades like fangs into her, knowing full well that this was all it would take.  A feeling of absolute power and the ability to determine the fate of all things mortal.

The rat died from a single bite.  The spider had done what it had always been born to do, to kill.  Within the week the house was deemed condemned and all creatures large and small were condemned along with it.  The house upon the haunted hill had finally been reduced to rubble when the townspeople had decided that they would no longer stand for the tyranny that the house seemed to lord over them.

That evening as the last of the crew began to pack up their wrecking gear and set all of their tools down, alongside the mighty pile of rubble that was left, one crew member paused to pick up a portrait covered in dust.  As they dusted it off and set it back down the man turned and began to leave, something small, black and full of fury crawled onto his coat’s sleeve.  From here he would carry his coat to his car, where he would throw it into the back, from here the spider would ride the coat all the way into the man’s closet where the spider would begin its new reign of terror.

crap i sorta realized that this story holds somewhat in line with Arachnaphobia, however, it doesn’t!

Today I ventured to the Bite of Seattle, a Seattle food festival, and enjoyed taking in the sights and smells of every possible food concoction in existence.  While only venturing as far as to eat some delicious bbq ribs, there was many many amazing foods.  Probably the most intriguing thing about the Bite of Seattle are the people.

There is nothing else like the groupings of people you see there.  As you push through the crowd of bustling human cattle, you are assualted by an assortment of smells that overwhelms the senses.   The next thing that you see is an endless assortment of stalls extending as far as the eye can see and showing a variety of unending pallet blasting foods.

The people making for the most interesting part are what Seattle festivals are all about.  The people that show up are the weirdest of the weird and the most average of the average.. or the average of the average I suppose.  The mix is quite interesting.  One of the few times that you will see a man covered head to toe with tattoos rubbing elbows with a man who probably owns their own plane. What makes this so special is that everybody there is simply out to enjoy the sun and have some fun.  This is what I enjoy the most about Seattle.  When the sun comes out in Seattle everyone comes out of the woodworks in order to soak up as much sun as they can.  This makes for a very happy and very excited crowd.

All in all the smorgosborg of activities, smells, people, all make for a very unique experience, if there is ever a festival to make sure you go to, it is this one.  How can you go wrong with the most delicious foods spread out over a square acre?

Reality tv.. the most terrible television that exists in our world today.  Now, I am by no means a man free of watching reality tv, however, it serves no point and there is a much more important role for television today.  Television serves to entertain and it has been abused to the point of vegetation, no I don’t mean pod people or plant people.  I am talking about reality tv, wrestling and shows in general that hold no moral or intellectual value.  I understand that after a long hard day you need to take a break and just sit back and watch tv for a while.  The problem is that intelligent television is seen as negative and gets lower reviews than almost anything.  With the few exceptions, including Planet Earth and Shark Week, television on the whole is a useless invention.  It has been so abused and over-used to the point where it is detrimental.  Instead of taking the time to read a book or watch something that improves you intellectually, people want to just sit and have shit sprayed at them from the tube.  Watching hour after hour of mindless television if anything brings the general population to a more stupid and lower level than other countries.  A show such as Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, was both successful and intellectual.  There is not enough television that is of this quality.  One example of this is would be the number of educational channels versus crap.  There are three channels that provide intelligent and informative television.. these channels are Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and PBS.  There are 3 channels that provide intellectual and interesting television.  VH1, MTV, MTV2, A&E, TLC, Spike, USA, TBS, FX and FOX provide the most absurd shows.  The shows that they back are useless.  How can there be so many channels that provide nothing, but useless and intellectually devoid shows.  Who cares what Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or a family that has too many kids are doing.  Why do we care?  Why do we watch shows that serve to degredate the population instead of inform and teach.  It doesn’t have to be Nova show or a story about how the Hoover Dam was built, but why the hell does it need to be something that shows the lowest of the low.  What positive and helpful role models exist in our society?  Why is Paris Hilton a role model as well people like the jackasses on the Hills exist?  Jackass, funny, yet utterly useless.  There is an entire cult following that re-creates or creates their own jackass stunts.  These idiots end up hurting themselves or imitating people that should be shunned not admired.  There is no reason that the people that Americans want to emulate are the ones that are poorly educated, un-intelligent and have no conscience or morals.  Nothing is more shocking or creates a larger sense of humiliation for my country than realizing that the culmination of American culture lies in what purse, what party or what drama unfolds in a single area like Hollywood.  I am not saying that these shows should not exist.  I simply am asking why are there more of those than important and intelligent shows.

Why do we have no shows that have American morals reinstuted.  I don’t want some propaganda filled crap-fest that requires me to salute every five minutes and make me scream the American pledge of Allegiance, however, I do want a show that helps to recreate a sense of national pride that doesn’t make people say “I am an American so what.”  They need to say “I am an American” and say it proud and to know what it means to be an American.  Are our soldiers going to Iraq to die for America and the freedoms we enjoy so that people can say well their deaths are silly what are they really protecting?  Hell no.  There is no sense of morals or pride anymore in this country and that is a shame.. this country is great and I don’t want to live elsewhere, but I also don’t want to watch my country collapse because it is filled with glutonous fools that focus more on some celebrities life rather than their own.

Celebrities, screw them.  What do they do that is at all so important that our culture needs to focus on them?  They are not Mother Teresa, they are not saints or even a necessary function of our country.  The group One was all about getting Americans to donate in order to save people all over the world, it was sponsored by celebrities.  This in theory is a great idea, in practice a failure.  Why does a celebrity who makes $64 million tell me that I should donate money?  Why do they need a ferrari or 10 houses?  Shouldn’t they be donating their money.  Shouldn’t they donate all the proceeds to these companies.  If they tell me that I should donate 2% of my money then so should they.  If I donate a couple grand and shell out x% of my income, they should do the exact same.  In fact what is the point of earning more money and faster than they can spend?  Why don’t they put that money to good use in order to help further humanity as a whole.  They should not be held on some pedastool where when they donate $1 million that they are some sort of God.  I certainly don’t care if they donate $1 million, they should donate $50 million and then I will be happy.  That is not what they do, they expect the American’s who need every dollar in order to keep their family afloat or to continue their college education.  Why do they need to donate and why the hell are they being asked to donate by people who have more money than entire countries?  This my friends, is bullshit.  Either they cough up their money that they put towards useless and flamboyant material items or they can go to hell.  Anyone asking for a donation from me will receive a swift kick in the ass.  It is not that I am some sort of shrew holed up in my house hording my money, I am a college student who will not shell out the money I need to survive.  I am all for capitalism, but I am for capitalism that promotes our future not our present.  When Spencer Pratt donates his money and fortune in order to help people I will shut up, until that day I will call them out for being self-centered nihilists.

This country needs to regain its sense of morals, it needs to look forward to the future and realize that we do not live in America and that is it.  We live in a global country now.  We might as well forget boundaries and invisible lines.  We need to focus on helping people.  Africa is stuck in the stone age or in civil strife.  Why are we not helping them catch up to our speed, why is America’s goal not to level the playing field and increasing competition.  With competition comes innovation and with innovation comes invention and ingenuity that will push our world and the human race forward.  Capitalism is great, but America has taken capitalism into a my money my entertainment screw everyone else.”  This view needs to change and until it does our world will be a scary place.  When we don’t help our fellow man become as educated a”nd as technologically advanced as ourselves then what is the point.  The lack of a global view is the equivalent of driving with no location in mind.  Our earth and our future are the same and until we treat both as something that needs to be put on a pedastool then we will continue to sink into stagnation and end up with a more divided and segregated world.  I by no means read this a second time so I very well may not have addressed issues of importance, if you feel this way leave a comment and I will address it to the best of my abilities.

The first thing I choose to discuss will be the current world and state of affairs as it lies.  First things first, what exactly is going on with Michael Jackson and politics?  I understand that Michael Jackson is the King of Pop and that he was very important to music and the industry as a whole, however, what I do not understand is the need for his death to affect politics.  There is a large political push to have an actual resolution pushed through, however, how is it that this is on the forefront of the political agenda?  How is the state of the economy, the need for a renewable source of energy or the state of the Middle East.  Any of these things are far more important than a resolution about Michael Jackson.  In my opinion his death is a tragedy, however, it is not something so important that it needs to take the front of the political agenda or important enough to pass as a resolution.  Thank goodness for people like Pelosi who are willing to shoot it down in order to focus on more important things.

I suppose I should have discussed the name of the blog that I created.  I have a strange obsession with squid and the fact that they are one of the world’s most amazing animals, also oil changes are nothing more than a pain in the ass.  So what I am trying to say is that there is no basis for the name of the blog other than it is a combination of love and hate, like this blog.

Meh, I have run out of ideas for why I started writing this, but I will write another soon.