We can spend our national resources in one of two ways:
1. Improve the quality of lives at home and overseas.
2. Continue warring over continuously depleting resources
Let's look at these options more closely.
1. If the lives overseas are better, well, that's just a good thing, because we're good people.
But let's take the altruism out of the equation for a moment. If other people of the world are better off, then there's less friction and fewer hotspots. If there's less friction and fewer hotspots, most of the troops can come back home, creating even less friction and fewer hotspots. Virtuous cycle.
And if other people of the world are better off, then there is less need to war with us and war among themselves. If they war with us, we need to defend and, typically, get over-involved. If they war among themselves, we again get typically over-involved, especially if they are tied to important resources or logistics lines. (I said I'd take the altruism out of the equation). So let's do charity instead of war.
If we spend our national resources on the environment, then we won't have to spend more and more repairing damage and finding new short-term solutions to the problems we caused. And then there's less friction and fewer hotspots (see above).
An once of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Treat root causes more than symptoms. Focus on the holistic more than the local and immediate.
Let's turn back time. Make Earth Great Again (MEGA).
That does not mean ignore charity at home. But charity abroad is charity at home. Get it now?
We are all one. We're all part of the same system, we all swim in the same pool. What you do to them is what you do to you. It doesn't matter who you mean by them or who you mean by you. The principle remains the same.
2. Or, we can do the same thing and just spend our resources on more and more war and more and more destruction of the planet.
You know what causes depression? When the circulation of money slows down. This can, unfortunately, become a vicious cycle, like a run on the bank, as people stockpile out of fear.
The opposite, a virtuous cycle, is a free-flowing economy. There is no need to hoard. No need to steal.
Just keep it flowing. Stay with the flow of traffic, folks. And don’t worry if the volume or speed or pressure of the water in the pipe starts to increase over time. Just go along for the ride.
Also, the government can just print more money. Freely received, freely given.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
Ever notice how the closer you are to the hot, sunny beach, the greater the demand for ice cream?
I love shops like Baskin Robbins, with 31 delicious flavors to choose from. Even though I’m committed to staying with the same cone, I like to try a variety of flavors. Sometimes I even enjoy more than one scoop!
There’s nothing wrong with how you get your ice cream—some have two cones that they’re committed to, or one cone with the occasional banana split. There’s nothing wrong with staying plain vanilla, soft serve sundaes, either, or forgoing altogether.
There once was a woman who owned a champion purebred. However, he did not groom himself the way the Master wanted and did not perform the way the Master wanted. It didn’t matter how much he worked to appease the Master or how hard he tried to make the Master happy. It was never, ever good enough. The Master was never satisfied and always wanted more.
The owner abused the purebred growing up. She yelled at it and threatened it and punished it constantly, often for unknown or trivial reasons. It was so common that the purebred cowered in fear of her and whimpered in her sight or peed on the floor out of fright.
The other animals did not want to play with the purebred, because he struggled to develop the self-confidence to socialize. And because he didn’t socialize properly, many of the other animals also attacked the purebred, only exasperating the problem.
There was no love in the home, only a small, bare kennel in a lavish home. He was never petted or given treats, and rarely let out of the house. Everything from the Master was entirely conditional, and almost all negative reinforcement.
One day, at the dog age of 2 years, the purebred ran away and never returned. The Master wasn’t concerned or worried for his health or safety. She was furious. He was her prized possession. He had insulted her by running away. And yet she never asked herself why. Self reflection never occurred to her. It never did. Everything was always someone else’s fault.
She posted fliers everywhere and interrogated everyone. She was quite hostile, actually. She was a very hostile person toward people as well as animals.
The Master then learned that another family had taken the purebred in and refused to return him, because they had seen the effects of the abuse. The Master sent all kinds of threats to that family and all of the neighbors in the community.
She acted that way because she thought she was supposed to always get her way, and expected to always get her way. Being hostile and threatening was the only way she knew how to get her way, and she was even worse when she didn’t get her way.
It only confirmed in the minds of the entire community, who had been watching the entire charade and who also suffered her torment, that she was unfit to take care of animals.
Embarrassed and ashamed of what everyone in the community thought of her, she finally (finally!) realized that she was the one who needed to conform to community standards, not everyone else conform to hers. She finally (finally!) realized that she needed to be nice to others. She finally (finally!) realized that she needed to respect other’s boundaries.
She worked very hard to never, ever threaten anyone ever again. She worked doubly hard to never, ever harm anyone ever again. And she worked triply hard to be accepting, tolerant, honest, generous, and kind to everyone.
And she let go of ever expecting to get her way ever again. She realized sometimes she might and sometimes she might not, and that was just going to be good enough for her from now on.
Because if she didn’t change now, fully, the community was going to ask her to pack her bags and leave town, and never return again. This was her last warning. It was her last straw. She had hurt far too many people for far too long. This was it.
They all lived much better and happier after that.
I find reading vanity license plates fun, don't you? Today I saw a MA plate on a white Audi:
1VPN81
Redonkulous, and false. A for effort, though. I prefer B+, myself.
And the sign says long hair freaky people need not apply
So I put my hair under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said you look like a fine outstanding young man I think you'll do
So I took off my hat I said imagine that huh me working for you
Signs signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign
And the sign says anybody caught trespassing will be shot on sight
So I jumped the fence and I yelled at the house, hey! what gives you the right
To put up a fence and keep me out or to keep mother nature in
If god was here he'd tell it to your face man you're some kind of sinner
Signs signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign
Oh say now mister can't you read
You got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't watch no you can't eat you ain't supposed to be here
And the sign says you got to have a membership card to get inside, huh
And the sign says everybody welcome come in kneel down and pray
But then they passed around a plate at the end of it all
And I didn't have a penny to pay
So I got me a pen and paper and I made up my own fucking sign
I said thank you lord for thinking about me I'm alive and doing fine
Signs signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign
Signs signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign
There once was a man who inherited a large sharecrop farm in the Deep South. It was when slavery was still prevalent and accepted by many. However, he was an abolitionist and abhorred the situation on the farm. And yet, there wasn’t much he could do about it at the time except treat his workers fairly and humanely, and feed them well.
Together, they converted the sharecrop into a worker's cooperative and grew it into an expansive enterprise. Many years later, at a ripe old age, the man and his wife retired to a vineyard. Before doing so, they were able to set the slaves free through years of political action, and left the cooperative in their sole possession.
From wikipedia: Sharecropping is when a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on the land...
The practice was harmful to tenants with many cases of high interest rates, unpredictable harvests, and unscrupulous landlords and merchants often keeping tenant farm families severely indebted. The debt was often compounded year on year leaving the cropper vulnerable to intimidation and shortchanging.[12] Nevertheless, it appeared to be inevitable, with no serious alternative unless the croppers left agriculture...
Sharecropping became widespread in the South as a response to economic upheaval caused by the end of slavery during and after Reconstruction. Sharecropping was a way for poor farmers, both white and black, to earn a living from land owned by someone else. The landowner provided land, housing, tools and seed, and perhaps a mule, and a local merchant provided food and supplies on credit. At harvest time, the sharecropper received a share of the crop (from one-third to one-half, with the landowner taking the rest). The cropper used his share to pay off his debt to the merchant...
In Reconstruction-era United States, sharecropping was one of few options for penniless freedmen to support themselves and their families...
After the Civil War, plantation owners had to borrow money to farm, at around 15 percent interest. The indebtedness of cotton planters increased through the early 1940s, and the average plantation fell into bankruptcy about every 20 years. It is against this backdrop that the wealthiest owners maintained their concentrated ownership of the land...
Though the arrangement protected sharecroppers from the negative effects of a bad crop, many sharecroppers (both black and white) remained quite poor. Arrangements typically left a third of the crop to the sharecropper.
From wikipedia: A worker cooperative is a cooperative that is owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner who each have one vote...
According to an analysis of all businesses in Uruguay between 1997 - 2009, worker cooperatives have a 29% smaller chance of closure after controlling for variables such as industry.
... worker cooperatives being more likely than capitalist firms to cut wages instead of laying off employees during periods of economic difficulty...
In the Mondragon Corporation, the world's largest worker cooperative, the pay ratio between the lowest and the highest earner was 1:9 in 2018. The ratio is decided by a democratic vote by the worker-members.[15] By comparison, the ratio between CEO pay to average earner in top 350 US companies was 1:321 in 2018.
... worker cooperatives are more productive than conventional businesses...
... worker cooperatives are the only form of enterprise that fosters social trust between employees..
Lord, I've really been real stressed, down and out, losing ground
Although I am black and proud, problems got me pessimistic
Brothers and sisters keep messin' up, why does it have to be so damn tuff?
I don't know where I can go to let these ghosts out of my skull
My grandma past my brother's gone, I never at once felt so alone
I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel, not just my spare tire
(Home!) But Lord, I ask you
(Home!) to be my guiding force and truth
(Home!) For some strange reason it had to be
(Home!) he guided me to Tennessee
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Lord it's obvious we got a relationship
Talkin' to each other every night and day
Although you're superior over me
We talk to each other in a friendship way
Then outta nowhere you tell me to break
Outta the country and into more country
Past Dyesburg and Ripley
Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the roads my forefathers walked
Climb the trees my forefathers hung from
Ask those trees for all their wisdom
They tell me my ears are so young (Home)
Go back, from whence you came (Home)
My family tree, my family name (Home)
For some strange reason it had to be (Home)
He guided me to Tennessee (Home)
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Now I see the importance of history
Why my people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin' ghetto games
I ask you, Lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightenment of all my folks
He said, cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And he was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty
The Lord allowed me to drink some more
He said what I am searching for are
The answers to all which are in front of me
The ultimate truth started to get blurry
For some strange reason it had to be
It was all a dream about Tennessee
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Oh, won't you let me, won't you help me
won't you help me understand your plan
Take me home, take me home, home, take me to another place
Take me home, take me home, home, take me to another plac
Make it rated G or PG or PG-13 or R or NC-17 or unrated/X. It is entirely your choice.
Make it action, horror, comedy, drama, science fiction, romance, crime, thriller, adventure, romantic comedy, mystery, war, western, epic, or whatever combination you want. It is entirely your choice.
Find the studios and settings that best suit you and your movie.
Attract the actors who best suit you and your movie.
Don't let the studio dictate how the movie of your life is sold to the audiences.
It is your life.
They...
do not...
own you. Period, dot.
Do not let anyone own you.
Do not be a slave to anyone.
You are an autonomous person, a free-willed being. Do not let them take that away from you.
If anyone tries to own the movie of your life, refuse to act. Trash their film.
There once was a human trapped in a cartoon. It was dry and lacked color, but it was all he knew. He made the best of the page he was given, and drew some imaginative panels for his friends and himself.
One day, the human looked above and saw the most amazing things that he could hardly describe to his friends inside the comic. And he laid eyes upon the most amazing creature, who instantly captured his heart. He beckoned her to come see his world.
But lo! the evil cartoonist returned and did not like what he saw. He drew minions to chase the human and his alien lover. The evil cartoonist drew on top of the panels the human had drawn, scribbling and crumbling paper, creating a nightmare for those trapped inside, from which they struggled to wake up. They begged and pleaded but were not granted mercy by the evil cartoonist.
However, the human and his alien lover were able to escape, and live happily ever after.
When my brother and I were children we met Muhammad Ali in NYC.
By the time we met him, he was long retired, having already suffered so much brain damage and Parkinson’s. But despite his massive size and slowness in both movement and wit by then, he was still a soft and gentle soul within the playful showman who liked to ham it up.
A brief biography: Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky. He won two national Golden Gloves and then the light heavyweight boxing Olympic Gold Medal. Shortly thereafter he converted to Islam and changed his name. At the age of 22 he won the world heavyweight championship against Sonny Liston in a major upset.
He was a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War due to his religion and refused to serve when he was drafted. He willingly gave up his world title and fighting license, and served 5 years in prison for his beliefs. The conviction was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court, but the world never got to see the best of Ali in the prime of his youth.
Most fighters would have given up, having their skills atrophied so long. Not for the Greatest of All Time. Some allies helped him earn his fighting license back, and in short time he was able to contend for the title again. Billed the "Fight of the Century" against Joe Frazier, some saw it as a heavily racial contest. Ali lost the bout by unanimous judge decision. He met Frazier two more times in his career and won both.
Four years later Ali was able to challenge the champion of bachelor hamburger grills, George Foreman. He named this fight "Rumble in the Jungle," as it took place in Zaire. Ali employed his "rope-a-dope" technique, allowing Foreman to expend all of his energy attacking him while Ali conserved his energy crouched in the corner. At the opportune time, Ali unleashed a massive holy fury that knocked the fucking shit outta Foreman, spilling raw hamburger out of the ring. Pace yourself, bro. Ali won the title for the second time in the most televised event in the world to date at that time.
One of the next fights included the one which inspired Rocky! It was against Chuck Wepner, who nearly won.
In 1975 Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier for the third and final time in Manilla, Philippines. Dubbed the "Thrilla in Manilla," temperatures reached over 100F degrees! Ali won the fight, giving him a total match-up lead of 2-1 over the years. He was clearly spent after the bout, and said he considered retiring.
Ali's career suffered some blows after that. There were some split decisions, stadium crowds that booed him after his conversion to Sunni Islam, and a doctor who quit when Ali refused his advice to retire.
Ali lost his title to up-and-comer Leon Spinks, who only had seven professional fights. However, Ali challenged Spinks to a rematch and won the title back seven months later, the first and only fighter to ever hold the world championship three times.
He went on to fight a few more times against the pleas of many. It is estimated he absorbed about 200,000 blows over his career.
Muhammad Ali was known for his bombastic, rhyming taunts, to include his favorite self-reference, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". He still remains the Greatest of All Time, the only boxer to have ever won the world heavyweight championship three times. He won 56 of his 61 total fights, 37 by knock out.
He was married four times, and had seven daughters and two sons. His daughter Laila was a professional boxer from 1999 to 2007. He was also a major philanthropist, humanitarian, and involved in politics.
We've come a long, long way together
Through the hard times and the good
I have to celebrate you, baby
I have to praise you like I should
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you like I should
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you like I should
We've come a long, long way together
Through the hard times and the good
I have to celebrate you, baby
I have to praise you like I should
We've come a long, long way together
Through the hard times and the good
I have to celebrate you, baby
I have to praise you like I should
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you
I have to praise you like I should
