Californian Sojourn

Aha! There Are Things I Can Tear Up At!

This did indeed make me tear up.  We can only hope that this is happening for families all around this great nation and for our allies during this Holiday season.

*This post brought to you by me, showing my wife I do have a heart.

A Little Socialist Allegory

Found this to be a particularly telling bit of text:

Socialism (by Saadat Hasan Manto)

He loaded all his belongings onto a truck and was driving to another town when he was waylaid by a mob. Eyeing the goods greedily, one man said to the other, 'Just look at all that booty he is decamping with.' The owner smiled proudly, 'What you see here is my personal property.'

Some of the men laughed. 'We know.' 

There was a yell from the mob, 'Don't let this capitalist get away. He is nothing but a robber with a truck.'

 

via Samizdata

Everything Old, Is New Again

Been away a LONG time.  No explanation to give so I'm just going to jump right into things.  VDH, Victor Davis hanson, a man who's ideas and work influence many things on this site hits yet another one out of the park.  And I wish he were wrong.

We live in trying times and it's only a matter of time before we see a repeat of history we try so forcefully, and because of it that wrongly, to avoid.

Hey, Guess What?

Men and Woman think differently!  Amazing!

But wait, I could of told you that without a study.  And cheaper I'm sure too.

Losing Innocence, Or Killing It Before It Ever Begins?

Reading an excerpt from this book, Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough I'm not quite sure anymore.  We all don't live in downtown New York, but how far away are we really from the seed being planted everywhere else?  Media saturates our lives now like never before, will unbridled and frankly immature sexuality do the same?

I'm still amazed at watching a Dave Chappelle skit and Reno 911 in which children were present while foul-language and even fouler sexua situations were discussed.  Do children of 10 or 11 years really need to be privy to dicussions about prison rape and sexual diseases in graphic detail, even for comedic purposes?  My answer is no, but it seems that such an opinion just earns me the label of a prude when it's obvious I am anything but.  Responsibility can be tough but it ain't prudish folks and we're gonna need to re-learn that pretty darn quick.

Alright...This Whole Kobe, Shaq, Karl, Vanessa Thing...

Right now, the sports talk radio is absolutely going nuts over this whole tiff between Kobe and Karl with sides weighing in from pretty much everywhere.  Which has brought interesting things up, not including the amusement to see sports guy speak about morality and this mystical thing called the "Guy Code," which basically states, you don't rat a man out even though he is cheating on his wife.  Now, I'm not entirely sure what I think about this cause I'm seeing bias all over, including from men who are sternly against telling because, THEY'RE most likely cheating and don't want to be ratted out themselves.

Now, I love basketball, and I'd rather see basketball played and talked about rather than this soap opera.  But I'm curious, what do the women here think about this whole situation?  If you're in the dark you can basically read this (and note it wasn't exactly Kobe being the first to bring this out into the light as this report says, to my kowledge it was LA Times sports columnist T.J. Simers that went searching after this story.  Also note, ESPN has been INCREDIBLY biased lately against Kobe for some reason.)  Also read this and then the article that broke this wide up, here.  I still don't know exactly what the heck to think about all this, and I'll have a bigger bit  tonight or tomorrow with more of my thoughts, but I'm curious what people here think, especially the women who don't really call into sports radio too much.

Kinsey: Pretty Much Full Of It...

Once again the movies are trying to give us "reality" not as it is, but as they want it.  And basically I feel the ever so slight need to shed some light on that.  So if you want to know more about the truth of these studies that occurred some years ago (before most of us were born) check it out here.

Please people, I LOVE movies just as much as anyone, you guys know that and certainly know about my love for Asian cinema, but I certainly know movies have a habit of telling a reality they want to tell, even when the facts don't back them up.  And why would they want to knowing that most people won't bother to research such things?  I mean, this is why Moore remains as popular as he is right?

By the way, when did movies become such influential pieces in culture and society today?  Weren't actors once considered a step above theives?  How'd they go from that to what they are today?  I don't consider them a step above theives certainly but considering the non-sense they get involved in and the non-sense they spout they don't rank high up there with doctors or those in the legal profession.  Tom, you certainly rank higher than any of them and I salute you for that certainly.

Anyways, enough of my grandstanding, I don't think the society has fallen so far that they need me pointing this out as if I am some prophet in the wilderness so I'll let reality speak for itself, just not Gilligan's Island reality. 

The Spirit of Exploration

In the recent Wired James Cameron writes a great article speaking about "The Drive  to Discover" and how it relates to our future in the exploration of space as well as his own experiences exploring the deepest depths of the ocean.  It really is a great read (especially his "thumbing" of the studios in relation to Titantic to accomplish his own gains) and it really hits upon something I've thought about, the lack of true exploration and how our society so accustomed to avoiding as much risk as possible has now stifled the exploration of space itself.  Thinking back to the times of Columbus and other great explorers you can see that the risk was ever present, more so than we probably can actually contemplate today, and yet it was still done.  Those individuals, despite so many personal failings, have my respect.  Even some 50-60 years ago when we sent brave men into space the risk was great and yet we did it.  Now though, though risk still exists (see the recent Space Shuttle disaster), we try and deny it, try to save ourselves from it and thus instead of aiming for the stars (or even the planets, or heck, the moon) we aim for Earth's low orbit.  Cameron's words echo my own, we need to aim higher once again and seek the legacy of exploring space that once walked the halls of NASA.  Man himself does.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Damn those white woman! They ruin everything!

Let's Talk The Insanity And Just "Inconceivable" Nature Of Relations Between The Sexes

Long enough post title? Sure, but I think this post warrants it ("props" to anyone who can figure out the quote in that post title).

Anyways, was over at Phil's blog (I AM a broken record but I just really got to thank Phil for the great posts he delievers nearly everyday. A joy to read and thankfully, it creates more posts from me) and I came across this post in regards to "the intimate relationship" and some other things which got me thinking. Now of course I certainly don't have the same experience (education-wise, life-wise, nor academic-wise) but I do have some of it in this area and certainly have quite a few thoughts on the matter and will spell it out here.

Now I have always thought attraction to be a rather funny thing. I mean there is of course the rather blatant and obvious type of attraction based on looks but then there are just those forms of attractions that have caused man to write about across the ages, the madness, the sheer beauty. These forms follow everything from those women who are just incredible looking loving men with inner tubes to hold on to, to the "educated" type guy who falls for the goth-chick. That doesn't nearly cover every other strange combo you can think of, whether it be ethnic difference, age difference, or economic difference. Needless to say this thing called love, eros as the Greeks call it, romantic love is something that baffles the "logic" of any man or woman living. It's amazing what can bring people together, those little quirks we have sometimes that just attract us to people we had no idea we could ever be attracted to.

Personally I find myself attracted to many types of women and even some I really shouldn't be attracted to but a lot of times it's women you'd never guess. Most people assume I'd like a good "demure" Christian girl but for some reason that is almost NEVER what I am attracted to. Why, I really don't know but I usually fall for a girl who has a bit of an "edge" to her. Now this doesn't mean I go after ladies who are heroin addicts or something, but you wouldn't easily name them choir girls either. Now of course I've had some "bad" experiences in this regard but I also came across a most incredible woman and my only regret is that I wish I was older...or at least a littler wiser in regards to that situation. Live and learn as they say.

Hmmm, this post is turning into kind of a ramble really, but I suppose I really don't let enough about me be known to those of you who read. I guess I'll have to let this post, and others, change that.

In total though I just am amazed and inspired by the randomness life and love presented to us. It makes so many things worth living, worth waking up for. Funny how things of a rather insane nature are the very things that can keep us sane.