I Love Pine Cones. Stepping On Them Sounds Like The Crushing Of My Enemies' Bones.

Things that make you go, "Hmmm"

Oil company fighting to put a pipeline through several states to facilitate cheaper delivery of more oil to refineries despite oil companies worldwide (including NA) agreeing to slow oil production because the low ppb was causing them to lose money.

This is probably an asshole thing to ask; however, it's required since everyone seems surprised by recent events: When you build your city below, at, or near sea level, how do you not suspect something could go wrong? From my days in catholic school, I sort of remember a parable about a guy who built his house by a river. It didn't end well for him. Fairly certain the story behind that metaphor was pretty well-established knowledge back then. What's interesting is no one has started blaming the city planners for failing to do enough to mitigate the effects of this eventuality. Though not nearly on the scale of Fukishima, I recall the plant designers being blamed immediately for discounting the possibility of a massive earthquake causing a massive tsunami, because, you know, that happens all the time in Japan... Yeah... Negligence is the real tragedy.

To clarify: The reason I decided to reference something I'm pretty sure was in the bible somewhere is because that particular region has a high concentration of bible thumpers. The fact they'll take leviticus literally, yet are too stupid to interpret the parable I referenced highlights my above final point.

It's sad providing so little to anyone else, they never even bother to message you.

How the dominoes fall

http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/01/chris-rock-stopped-performing-for-studen The last line, though interesting and relative to the article, whether by the author's volition or not, indicates a much more troubling fact: Americans are being taught from the earliest ages possible they should downright fear anything contrary to keeping the status quo of everyone is equal and everyone is the same; parents, teachers, religions, administrations forcing the next generation to avoid at all costs even hinting someone may not be exactly like themselves, even though another may be as akin as the Earth is to our sun. This is not merely developing the next generation(s) into overly-sensitive, wishy-washy, dull, cowering "pussies" (as the general term ascribed to such people); this grooming causes these generations to embrace an intellectual plateau no higher than the lowest-common-denominator, refuse competition in any form, expect handouts based on non-extant achievement, abhor anything that may cause their limited intellectual capacity to grow beyond what's been spoon-fed to them (via older generation, media, equally-misinformed peers, media, and media [Did I mention media?]), and absolutely, never, ever, do anything that may require more than a modicum of effort, especially when it may cause someone else stress. What this did to my generation and those following was allow the leeching older generations to maintain a foothold of their xenophobia, technophobia, and epistemophobia while ensuring they retained their comfortable lifestyles as bigots, profiteers, fear-mongers, corrupters, and saboteurs of human progress. This all for the sake of keeping their power until their otherwise parasitic lives end with them having more than everyone else because they made sure no one could upset their apple cart. Our generations (mine and following) were bred to be indecisive, afraid of change, and lost in order for older generations to perpetuate a near religious dominance over us. They are the shepherds, they know better than we do, they can lead us, they have the resources, they have the power, they know more than we ever can, and all we have to do is twist our rationale to convince ourselves we need them. We are being lied to. We've been lied to. We are not special. Of all the creatures on this planet now and that have ever been, why in the fuck would humans all be equal? This mentality has helped make our generations the most apathetic, stagnant, weak, and mindless to walk our countryside. WE are to blame for racism. WE are to blame for classism. WE are to blame rampant stupidity. WE are to blame for violent, arrogant, and ignorant interpretations of religious texts. WE are to blame for saying there's nothing we can do. WE are to blame for our country's downward spiral. We are not our parents. They didn't have what we do, and it's our job to learn to deal with that. Our grandparents and great-grandparents cursed us all by giving us wondrous contraptions that can shatter our planet. Our parents were all too happy to play off the fears of our ancestors in order to turn a quick buck, but since our parents don't want their children doing the same, they've perpetuated a system to make each generation after less like Men (not gender, actual species) and more like sheep. The fact I had to add that parenthetical addendum clarifying what I meant by "Men" is evidence enough our generation is all too eager to misunderstand, take offense, and argue mundane details amongst ourselves rather than look at the larger picture. Men are men. Women are women. Black people are black people. Yellow people are yellow people. Brown people are brown people. White people are white people. Grey people are grey people. Red people are red people. What turned these labels into slurs were not why they were used in the first place. The way our generations are receding, we'll have to stop calling planets "planets" or water "water" because someone might get offended that the planets or water might get offended. We won't have basic colors anymore because those might be racist or sexist somehow. Do you know what you people complaining about everything not catering to the least-common-denominator and faceless masses have done? You people, our generations, have caused more racism, more religious intolerance, more intellectual intolerance, more violence, less education, less cooperation, and greater poverty on a massive scale than any government administration in our country ever has. Your incessant complaints, lawsuits, and threats have backed our own Bill of Rights into a corner, and gave opportunists rule of law. WE are hanging ourselves. WE are letting our generation be the absolute worst. WE have let bias, greed, apathy, arrogance, and ignorance become our battle standards from under which we shout misinformation and hatred at each other. Are we truly this downright stupid? Are we so utterly blind? Our generations are an insult to our species. We've fed the trolls, and they did a great job making us hurt each other. It seems we enjoy getting duped.

Person: I hate you!

*Me thinking* : Okay, but never as much as I hate myself.

I didn't steal this from Robocop, I swear.

Life goals

I have decided that I am going to marry into a family the last name Fowler, take their name, and name my kid Bard Ash Moulder Fowler. I'd be such a proud dad.