One of the many problems that is plaguing modern governments is vote splitting. Granted many countries do not have this problem, those rare nations with a Two Party system and the more common One Party system, but the rest of the nations have many more parties in the system. In Canada, we have four large national parties, more than one regional party and dozens of micro parties and because of these multiple choices a single party can win a majority of our seats with a minority of the popular vote. Part of this problem might have to do with the British Parliamentary system, but it is mostly a problem that can be solved with a different election system.
Part of the problem with our system is that the leader of the party is responsible for national vote and in their local constituency, that means he needs to win his riding, the area that he represents, and the national vote. I propose:
1) the leader of a national party does not have a seat to defend in an election. The leader of a national party receives a free seat if the national party receives at least 5% of the national vote.
The then problem is how fill out the ranks of each national party and the micro parties. There are currently 308 electoral districts, ridings, in Canada. I propose:
2) each voter is presented with one of two ballots.
A) the first ballot is simple and contains the list of national leaders and their party affiliations plus no one so that ballots can be counted as a protest vote.
B) the second ballot contains a list of every citizen running in that riding and their party affiliations and whether they are running as a independent candidate.
C) votes are counted from both ballots so that
i) participants are ranked according to votes cast for them
ii) votes for a party and votes for party candidates go also to a national total for the party.
iii) if an independent candidate is ranked first in the riding, they join the government as an independent member of parliament.
iv) for this purpose, regional parties are treated as a national party
My father would say that that seems to be complicated and does not change much, but from his perspective he would only have to decide if he wants a local to represent him or a national party to get his vote. Everything else would happen behind the scenes.
3) a calculation of how the nation voted along regional and national lines. A breakdown of the voters preference then be used to determine the remainder of elected representatives in proportion to the popular vote.
As an example how the 2011 Canadian election would have turned out in this system:
Regional parties and independent candidates: BlocQuébecois 6% : 18 seats
Conservative Party 39.6% : 122 seats + leader
Liberal Party 18.9% : 58 seats + leader
New Democratic Party 30.6% : 94 seats + leader
Green Party 3.9% : 12 seats
Total seats : 307
2008 election 303 seats:
Regional parties and independent candidates: 2 independents
Regional BlocQuébecois 10% : 30 seats
Conservative Party 37.6% : 114 seats + leader
Liberal Party 26.2% : 79 seats + leader
New Democratic Party 18.2% : 55 seats + leader
Green Party 6.8% : 21 seats + leader
Total seats : 305
4) besides the leader, all candidates would be drawn from the most popular ranked participants from the ridings.
5) voting is mandatory, real penalties graduating for number of elections missed something like $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000 unless a valid excuse can be made.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Sunday, 25 March 2012
TV sucks
There are SciFi and there are Fantasy television shows, but they are far and few between the other television shows that are out there. There are the Friends of the television world and there are the CSIs and crime drama, the Reality shows, there are Game Shows and there are documentaries and learning type shows.
I have never watched a single episode of CSI. Reality shows, are not reality, they are dysfunction made to look like reality to make people feel better. Sitcoms with their laugh tracks make me feel embarrassed, not because I watch them, but because I feel like they are the audience and they are watching me and because every episode is inane. Crime drama can be quite good, same with Medical drama and the rest, as long as they make no pretense as to be reality. And here is another key, they are not filled in America. Game shows. Documentaries and learning programs are rarely entertaining, but that is fine, people who like them like them because they learn.
Fantasy . . . Can be like Dexter, like True Blood and Game of Thrones is usually good because it is an adaptation of a book or idea from a book. It often does not try to be reality or like reality. And if it comes from a book there is a plot that the viewer can not decent right away that will thread the series, which is unlike any other type of show.
SciFi comes on many different levels. There is Star Trek. People who like star Trek say that people with high IQs like watching Star Trek, Mensa and all them are said to like Star Trek. Partially based in science exploring new planets and all that crap, it is crap. There is no plot, no arcing plot to connect each episode, each episode stands alone. Later versions like Next Generation, toyed with a plot and failed. Deep Space Nine had competition and sort of had a plot, but it was constructed one episode at a time. Voyager had a series plot, get home and Enterprise after the first season when sex was not working was to save Earth. Star Trek was a failure interest wise.
Babylon 5, on the other hand, succeeded where the other shows failed. Right from the get go, there was a plot, invisible at first, but later glaringly awesome. Things that happened in the first season were significant in the fourth season. Events in the movies, had impact in the television episodes and vice versa. A plot that moved along with every episode to a conclusion that you could not see in the very first episode, twists and turns and betrayals. The first television show to use computer graphics, the first to use space combat the way it would happen, in three dimensions. People from Mensa did not just love it, the top people in Mensa tuned in every week. And that was a chore. I watched the show regularly; their were regular problems. As with all great things, they seem to be appreciated mostly after they are gone, Babylon 5 had difficulty getting funding. Often they would have only enough money to make half a season and they would make it then get the rest of the money for the rest of the season. After one season was made, there were threats that that was going to be the only season, and after the second, the third and the fourth. Star Trek gets funding for seven years easily, but something new and good has to fight for every episode. So true for Farscape.
People liked Star Trek, a subset of those people watched Babylon 5, but the people who liked that, loved Farscape. An astronaut goes to space to test his own theory, a stepping stone to the stars and accidentally opens a wormhole and gets sucked down and is spat out in the middle of a space battle in a distant who knows where and then it gets better. Star Trek, everyone looks human, the Klingons have three hours of makeup to put on. Babylon 5, everyone looks human, some of them are in make up for hours again. Farscape, many of the people look human, one of the characters is a plant, one is half a meter at most, one is the size of a small elephant, one is the ship. Some of the characters spend the bulk of their time in makeup getting their costumes on, and some of them are puppets.
The plots on Farscape were complicated and they were episodic, but they had more imagination and fantastic than any other show before or since. There was an episode built around the music of the 1812 Overture, there was an episode where the main character was hallucinating and the hallucinations were Warner Brothers Cartoons. There was an episode where a energy malfunction switched minds in bodies, there was a episode involving shrink rays there were things that would be described as magic, but thanks to Asimov, we know that advanced technology IS magic. Farscape was cancelled. Not because it was not good, but because it did not get the numbers. The last season was brought out as a two hour long movie condensing a season into one movie, loose ends were tied up. The sixth season was a comic book that I have not seen.
It was a series that was better than anything on today, there was love, there was action, there was intelligence.
I have never watched a single episode of CSI. Reality shows, are not reality, they are dysfunction made to look like reality to make people feel better. Sitcoms with their laugh tracks make me feel embarrassed, not because I watch them, but because I feel like they are the audience and they are watching me and because every episode is inane. Crime drama can be quite good, same with Medical drama and the rest, as long as they make no pretense as to be reality. And here is another key, they are not filled in America. Game shows. Documentaries and learning programs are rarely entertaining, but that is fine, people who like them like them because they learn.
Fantasy . . . Can be like Dexter, like True Blood and Game of Thrones is usually good because it is an adaptation of a book or idea from a book. It often does not try to be reality or like reality. And if it comes from a book there is a plot that the viewer can not decent right away that will thread the series, which is unlike any other type of show.
SciFi comes on many different levels. There is Star Trek. People who like star Trek say that people with high IQs like watching Star Trek, Mensa and all them are said to like Star Trek. Partially based in science exploring new planets and all that crap, it is crap. There is no plot, no arcing plot to connect each episode, each episode stands alone. Later versions like Next Generation, toyed with a plot and failed. Deep Space Nine had competition and sort of had a plot, but it was constructed one episode at a time. Voyager had a series plot, get home and Enterprise after the first season when sex was not working was to save Earth. Star Trek was a failure interest wise.
Babylon 5, on the other hand, succeeded where the other shows failed. Right from the get go, there was a plot, invisible at first, but later glaringly awesome. Things that happened in the first season were significant in the fourth season. Events in the movies, had impact in the television episodes and vice versa. A plot that moved along with every episode to a conclusion that you could not see in the very first episode, twists and turns and betrayals. The first television show to use computer graphics, the first to use space combat the way it would happen, in three dimensions. People from Mensa did not just love it, the top people in Mensa tuned in every week. And that was a chore. I watched the show regularly; their were regular problems. As with all great things, they seem to be appreciated mostly after they are gone, Babylon 5 had difficulty getting funding. Often they would have only enough money to make half a season and they would make it then get the rest of the money for the rest of the season. After one season was made, there were threats that that was going to be the only season, and after the second, the third and the fourth. Star Trek gets funding for seven years easily, but something new and good has to fight for every episode. So true for Farscape.
People liked Star Trek, a subset of those people watched Babylon 5, but the people who liked that, loved Farscape. An astronaut goes to space to test his own theory, a stepping stone to the stars and accidentally opens a wormhole and gets sucked down and is spat out in the middle of a space battle in a distant who knows where and then it gets better. Star Trek, everyone looks human, the Klingons have three hours of makeup to put on. Babylon 5, everyone looks human, some of them are in make up for hours again. Farscape, many of the people look human, one of the characters is a plant, one is half a meter at most, one is the size of a small elephant, one is the ship. Some of the characters spend the bulk of their time in makeup getting their costumes on, and some of them are puppets.
The plots on Farscape were complicated and they were episodic, but they had more imagination and fantastic than any other show before or since. There was an episode built around the music of the 1812 Overture, there was an episode where the main character was hallucinating and the hallucinations were Warner Brothers Cartoons. There was an episode where a energy malfunction switched minds in bodies, there was a episode involving shrink rays there were things that would be described as magic, but thanks to Asimov, we know that advanced technology IS magic. Farscape was cancelled. Not because it was not good, but because it did not get the numbers. The last season was brought out as a two hour long movie condensing a season into one movie, loose ends were tied up. The sixth season was a comic book that I have not seen.
It was a series that was better than anything on today, there was love, there was action, there was intelligence.
Paolo Bacigalupi
Ship Breaker is SciFi, post apocalyptic earth and the apocalypse was the three things that everyone who has not had there heads up their butts, knows are around the corner. The setting is not too clear on the date but it is at least two hundred years in the future, more likely a hundred.
The first disaster that they mention is peak oil. Not only has peak oil happened, it is over. Oil is the most valuable resource on the planet and it is also in many ways illegal. The tar sands are banned from production, because of the second and more devastating disaster, at least for those of us not obsessed with our cars. Global Warming has melted all the ice, and the worst case scenario has occurred. By worst case, I mean the global temperatures have risen 6°C and the sea level has risen 100+ meters. The Gulf Coast of the United States, where this story takes place has been inundated and the new coastline has been turned into a mix of jungle and swamp. The water is so polluted that there is no description for clean ocean water and hurricane season is the entire year, most are stronger and there are category six storms: City Killers, on average once a month.
Oh the third disaster, with the loss of oil, the rise of the ocean waters and thus the destruction of many cities, America's economy collapsed and never regained its footing. The economic powers in the world are, in order strongest to weakest are, India, China, Africa and Europe. Yes it sucks to be an American.
I have often wondered how I would write my novel on a post apocalyptic world and the stumbling block has always been story, settings are great for me, but stories all suck. Paolo Bacigalupi on the other hand tells a great story set in a dysfunctional America. There is love, there is danger and there is moral ambiguity. That is the best part, when you are reduced to abject poverty, when the world has fallen apart, what morals are healthy and which morals will leave you too weak to live?
Great book, I can hardly wait to read the sequel.
The first disaster that they mention is peak oil. Not only has peak oil happened, it is over. Oil is the most valuable resource on the planet and it is also in many ways illegal. The tar sands are banned from production, because of the second and more devastating disaster, at least for those of us not obsessed with our cars. Global Warming has melted all the ice, and the worst case scenario has occurred. By worst case, I mean the global temperatures have risen 6°C and the sea level has risen 100+ meters. The Gulf Coast of the United States, where this story takes place has been inundated and the new coastline has been turned into a mix of jungle and swamp. The water is so polluted that there is no description for clean ocean water and hurricane season is the entire year, most are stronger and there are category six storms: City Killers, on average once a month.
Oh the third disaster, with the loss of oil, the rise of the ocean waters and thus the destruction of many cities, America's economy collapsed and never regained its footing. The economic powers in the world are, in order strongest to weakest are, India, China, Africa and Europe. Yes it sucks to be an American.
I have often wondered how I would write my novel on a post apocalyptic world and the stumbling block has always been story, settings are great for me, but stories all suck. Paolo Bacigalupi on the other hand tells a great story set in a dysfunctional America. There is love, there is danger and there is moral ambiguity. That is the best part, when you are reduced to abject poverty, when the world has fallen apart, what morals are healthy and which morals will leave you too weak to live?
Great book, I can hardly wait to read the sequel.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
China Miéville: Embassytown
He is a writer who haunts the streets on London England. He is also a writer that is two degrees separated from me. I know someone who knows him. My friend gave me his first book and I gave him the second last and eventually the last book he wrote.
The most recent book was Embassytown, his first pure Science Fiction book. His other books were high fantasy based on a Steam Punk genre, a world that is in the midst of an industrial revolution and is magic based. Lots of gritty coal fired machines, people that are half coal fired machines, other people who are mutants and normal people. His next to last book was a very good apocalyptic Streets of London Magic story. It was ver y good too. Embassytown is something different.
There are really only three types of science fiction. There is human centric Earth based SciFi. It is on earth, it may be in our past, it may be in the stars, but it is based on Earth in some way. Maybe they do not refer to earth explicitly but one or more characters are from Earth, or it is a planet that everyone knows. Most SciFi is this type. The second type makes no reference to earth, because there is no earth and this type is really more fantasy than SciFi. Welcome Star Wars and others. The third type is far cooler; it is a blend of the first two. Humanity has forgotten where it started, or is too far to have much or any contact, they are from Earth but there is no direct references, there are concepts and words that have little meaning to the characters, but have some context for the readers. Dune, the Foundation series, H Beam Piper wrote a few, and now this one, Embassytown.
It is a smart book, that is you have to have a brain or you will be lost right away, because his characters do not explain things in our terms, because they have no reference to our terms and why would the writer explain things to the reader when they can puzzle it out for themselves. The entire book is a puzzle about language, so if you can't understand simple things like the context people are talking give up now.
Without giving away any plot, the human settlement sits as a pimple on a planet, in a city of aliens. The alien world is toxic, but their generosity has provided a livable bubble. The most important thing to the aliens is Language, or rather The Language. The Language, is the most complex language in the galaxy, because the native speakers have two mouths working in tandem saying different things to make their words. Machines can duplicate it, but they do not understand the duplication.
China Miéville likes his words, English words. I think the next time I get one of his books it will have to be a digital format, just so that I can look up new words more easily. If you know what velleity means, good for you. If you do not know what it means and you are not reaching for your dictionary, do not read this book.
The most recent book was Embassytown, his first pure Science Fiction book. His other books were high fantasy based on a Steam Punk genre, a world that is in the midst of an industrial revolution and is magic based. Lots of gritty coal fired machines, people that are half coal fired machines, other people who are mutants and normal people. His next to last book was a very good apocalyptic Streets of London Magic story. It was ver y good too. Embassytown is something different.
There are really only three types of science fiction. There is human centric Earth based SciFi. It is on earth, it may be in our past, it may be in the stars, but it is based on Earth in some way. Maybe they do not refer to earth explicitly but one or more characters are from Earth, or it is a planet that everyone knows. Most SciFi is this type. The second type makes no reference to earth, because there is no earth and this type is really more fantasy than SciFi. Welcome Star Wars and others. The third type is far cooler; it is a blend of the first two. Humanity has forgotten where it started, or is too far to have much or any contact, they are from Earth but there is no direct references, there are concepts and words that have little meaning to the characters, but have some context for the readers. Dune, the Foundation series, H Beam Piper wrote a few, and now this one, Embassytown.
It is a smart book, that is you have to have a brain or you will be lost right away, because his characters do not explain things in our terms, because they have no reference to our terms and why would the writer explain things to the reader when they can puzzle it out for themselves. The entire book is a puzzle about language, so if you can't understand simple things like the context people are talking give up now.
Without giving away any plot, the human settlement sits as a pimple on a planet, in a city of aliens. The alien world is toxic, but their generosity has provided a livable bubble. The most important thing to the aliens is Language, or rather The Language. The Language, is the most complex language in the galaxy, because the native speakers have two mouths working in tandem saying different things to make their words. Machines can duplicate it, but they do not understand the duplication.
China Miéville likes his words, English words. I think the next time I get one of his books it will have to be a digital format, just so that I can look up new words more easily. If you know what velleity means, good for you. If you do not know what it means and you are not reaching for your dictionary, do not read this book.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Racism in Canada
I was just asked a question about Canada. I was as asked about racism. Before I would have, without hesitation, said that there was very little, certainly not compared to the United States. But that was before.
Before I went and lived in the city, Big Smoke. Big Smoke allowed me to look at Smallville and see the racism in the town.
The only source of Racism is fear of death. I am afraid of them because they might kill me. Most people would laugh at that and say that they know that they won't kill them. And they won't, because they are just as afraid of you. Racism also comes from ignorance, they are different than us, they might kill us. When people start to see similarities, the fear disappears and so does the racism. When people lose their ignorance, the racism disappears.
When racist people hear two people talking in a language that use they do not understand, they assume that they are talking about them and become offended, because they are afraid of them. What do you talk about with your friends? That is what they are talking about. I will give you two examples, one personal.
I had a friend who spoke an obscure language from Madagascar. He was a cashier at a grocery store in Big Smoke. A couple of friends were getting their paying for their purchases at talking in this same language. They were talking about things that one should not talk about in public of a very intimate nature, but believed know one understood them. When they paid, he wished them a very pleasant day, in the same language.
I came into work and there were two co-workers chatting in Hindu, or Tamil, I was not sure which, but I followed the conversation anyways. After they were done I told them I knew what they were talking about. They were talking about a co-worker that had missed the previous few days and was still away. I was right, they were amazed.
People around the world talk about what they always talk about, what you talk about. They do not talk about strangers, or people beside them; they talk about themselves. Of course, now I have to qualify that. People in Smallville, who talk about other people because they are bored, have more to fear by what their neighbour is talking about and less what that stranger is talking about.
In Big Smoke, the are lots of people from all over the world. Name a country, and you will find a whole bunch of those people living somewhere in it. Some of them would be at war with some of them, if they were in their home country, but not here.
Which is to say that the traditional type of visible mean minded Racism does not really exist in Big Smoke. In pocket yes, generally no. But what it does have is a more insidious type of racism, called Bureaucratic Racism.
I am a teacher and I took a course called ESL, English as a Second Language. One task we had to do was find racism in Canada. I looked and I found it. People in Canada are amongst the most racist people in the world and the least. "I would like to help you, but you have to fill out this form," or jump through this hoop. The hoops and the forms are all in English and the language services are difficult to use and cumbersome. Many of the positions within government are held by multigenerational Canadians, meaning not immigrants.
There is Cultural Bureaucratic Racism, women are not allowed to wear a hijab when they are in the courts or in citizenship ceremonies, Sihk boys are not allowed to wear a kurpan in the schools, and there are others. A kurpan is a ceremonial dagger, but it is in a sheath and is bound and a Sihk person would consider using it as a weapon in the same way that a good catholic person would to wipe their ass with a cross. Sikhs also do not cut their hair, thus the turban, a handy way to get their hair out of the way.
Small towns like Smallville have more of this type of racism. Montreal is very cosmopolitan but smaller towns have posted signs to all people, please migrate here, we want you to come but understand, we will not make allowance to your religion but we expect you to make allowances for our religion. Small towns across the country are like this, the cities are approaching Big Smoke's over 50% immigrant populations, but small towns are under 10%. In Smallville, we have a very large Native population, in this case there is real racism. Talk down to, of and in many cases refuse to employ. That is a different topic, what happens when two different people both believe what the one tells the other and what happens when one culture oppresses another culture for a really long time.
But in conclusion, I can not remember the last time someone was murdered in Canada, because they were different, unless they were a Native. I cannot remember a minority attacked, or property damaged, except Jewish property, mostly by NeoNazis and Holocaust Deniers ( Most of those were convicted by Hate Laws). The was a few cases of vandalism after 911, but those were only a few. Canada does have some racist laws, but only towards the Native Peoples.
Before I went and lived in the city, Big Smoke. Big Smoke allowed me to look at Smallville and see the racism in the town.
The only source of Racism is fear of death. I am afraid of them because they might kill me. Most people would laugh at that and say that they know that they won't kill them. And they won't, because they are just as afraid of you. Racism also comes from ignorance, they are different than us, they might kill us. When people start to see similarities, the fear disappears and so does the racism. When people lose their ignorance, the racism disappears.
When racist people hear two people talking in a language that use they do not understand, they assume that they are talking about them and become offended, because they are afraid of them. What do you talk about with your friends? That is what they are talking about. I will give you two examples, one personal.
I had a friend who spoke an obscure language from Madagascar. He was a cashier at a grocery store in Big Smoke. A couple of friends were getting their paying for their purchases at talking in this same language. They were talking about things that one should not talk about in public of a very intimate nature, but believed know one understood them. When they paid, he wished them a very pleasant day, in the same language.
I came into work and there were two co-workers chatting in Hindu, or Tamil, I was not sure which, but I followed the conversation anyways. After they were done I told them I knew what they were talking about. They were talking about a co-worker that had missed the previous few days and was still away. I was right, they were amazed.
People around the world talk about what they always talk about, what you talk about. They do not talk about strangers, or people beside them; they talk about themselves. Of course, now I have to qualify that. People in Smallville, who talk about other people because they are bored, have more to fear by what their neighbour is talking about and less what that stranger is talking about.
In Big Smoke, the are lots of people from all over the world. Name a country, and you will find a whole bunch of those people living somewhere in it. Some of them would be at war with some of them, if they were in their home country, but not here.
Which is to say that the traditional type of visible mean minded Racism does not really exist in Big Smoke. In pocket yes, generally no. But what it does have is a more insidious type of racism, called Bureaucratic Racism.
I am a teacher and I took a course called ESL, English as a Second Language. One task we had to do was find racism in Canada. I looked and I found it. People in Canada are amongst the most racist people in the world and the least. "I would like to help you, but you have to fill out this form," or jump through this hoop. The hoops and the forms are all in English and the language services are difficult to use and cumbersome. Many of the positions within government are held by multigenerational Canadians, meaning not immigrants.
There is Cultural Bureaucratic Racism, women are not allowed to wear a hijab when they are in the courts or in citizenship ceremonies, Sihk boys are not allowed to wear a kurpan in the schools, and there are others. A kurpan is a ceremonial dagger, but it is in a sheath and is bound and a Sihk person would consider using it as a weapon in the same way that a good catholic person would to wipe their ass with a cross. Sikhs also do not cut their hair, thus the turban, a handy way to get their hair out of the way.
Small towns like Smallville have more of this type of racism. Montreal is very cosmopolitan but smaller towns have posted signs to all people, please migrate here, we want you to come but understand, we will not make allowance to your religion but we expect you to make allowances for our religion. Small towns across the country are like this, the cities are approaching Big Smoke's over 50% immigrant populations, but small towns are under 10%. In Smallville, we have a very large Native population, in this case there is real racism. Talk down to, of and in many cases refuse to employ. That is a different topic, what happens when two different people both believe what the one tells the other and what happens when one culture oppresses another culture for a really long time.
But in conclusion, I can not remember the last time someone was murdered in Canada, because they were different, unless they were a Native. I cannot remember a minority attacked, or property damaged, except Jewish property, mostly by NeoNazis and Holocaust Deniers ( Most of those were convicted by Hate Laws). The was a few cases of vandalism after 911, but those were only a few. Canada does have some racist laws, but only towards the Native Peoples.
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Binary you dumby!
I was hit with a new realization today, it was not totally new, but had been knocking around my head for days now. People are obsessed with competing with each other on the most absurd things. But that is not new. What is new is my way of thinking about what many of them should be: 0/1.
What that means is either you have or you have not. And if you have then you have, whether you have done something a hundred times or only once, you have done it. Where as if you haven't done it, nothing can really change until you have done it.
Bungee jumping, you can either have done it or you have not. If you have done it a hundred times you may be a bit more skilled at it than someone who has done it only once, but both people have done it, and there is no question that they haven't bungee jumped. On might also conclude that they are nuts, but that is a matter of conjecture.
My point is that if you have jumped off a bridge with a length of rope attached to you once you are very different from someone who has not and a person that does it twice a day before breakfast is less different than the person who has only done it once than the person who has never done it.
So I think you know where this is going. A person who has had sex with only one person, is not much different from a person who has had many partners. It matters less the number of partners one has had and more that they have had sex in the first place.
It is something that I never really understood, for years, that the number of partners someone has had is important or relevant, as long as they practiced safe sex that is. I have met people who are upset about their partner having had more partners than them and I have known people to lie to lower the number of partners they have had. Like it is important. Everybody is different and the only important thing is 0/1.
What that means is either you have or you have not. And if you have then you have, whether you have done something a hundred times or only once, you have done it. Where as if you haven't done it, nothing can really change until you have done it.
Bungee jumping, you can either have done it or you have not. If you have done it a hundred times you may be a bit more skilled at it than someone who has done it only once, but both people have done it, and there is no question that they haven't bungee jumped. On might also conclude that they are nuts, but that is a matter of conjecture.
My point is that if you have jumped off a bridge with a length of rope attached to you once you are very different from someone who has not and a person that does it twice a day before breakfast is less different than the person who has only done it once than the person who has never done it.
So I think you know where this is going. A person who has had sex with only one person, is not much different from a person who has had many partners. It matters less the number of partners one has had and more that they have had sex in the first place.
It is something that I never really understood, for years, that the number of partners someone has had is important or relevant, as long as they practiced safe sex that is. I have met people who are upset about their partner having had more partners than them and I have known people to lie to lower the number of partners they have had. Like it is important. Everybody is different and the only important thing is 0/1.
Monday, 12 March 2012
One man, three women, three children and me
Year in review
A former girlfriend would say that I was receiving Karma Payback last year for all the grief that I did to her. I don't believe any of that mumbo jumbo, although, if I did this would look like proof of it.
It would be more apt to say it was a year and a half in review. I fell in love and then did something rash to prove that I was and did, but all it proved was that I was nïeve and that my emotions were controlling my actions and that my emotions were severely underdeveloped.
I fell out of love. But I did not stop seeing my former. And the reason is obvious because I did not just fall out of love; I had it sucked out of my bones one night at a time. The only person who would have been happy about the results of this engagement would have been my former girlfriend Linda. Like me, Linda did it to herself. Unlike my situation, I told Linda several times with words and actions, but I let her do it to herself.
There were others who felt joy at the conclusion, everyone I tell; I have a cool story to tell now. But in truth the road accident still continues, unless she reads this blog. I gave up a chance in the Show. But I have learned stuff, and this path I embarked on has exposed me to young children, three sets of them in their home environment. I fell in love with four children.
Three offers to move in. I took up one of them, but one offer is genuine. The offer is to move in to their house as a permanent household member. Partly because their children love me and partially because they love me too. Platonically of course.
There was religious girl, whom I love greatly, whom I would marry despite our differences for my part. I could never convert to her religion; it goes against so much of who I am and what I believe. But I love her and if she could raise her head out of her religion. Karl Marx said that religion was the opiate of the masses, in her case the opiate has been refined to heroine.
A former girlfriend would say that I was receiving Karma Payback last year for all the grief that I did to her. I don't believe any of that mumbo jumbo, although, if I did this would look like proof of it.
It would be more apt to say it was a year and a half in review. I fell in love and then did something rash to prove that I was and did, but all it proved was that I was nïeve and that my emotions were controlling my actions and that my emotions were severely underdeveloped.
I fell out of love. But I did not stop seeing my former. And the reason is obvious because I did not just fall out of love; I had it sucked out of my bones one night at a time. The only person who would have been happy about the results of this engagement would have been my former girlfriend Linda. Like me, Linda did it to herself. Unlike my situation, I told Linda several times with words and actions, but I let her do it to herself.
There were others who felt joy at the conclusion, everyone I tell; I have a cool story to tell now. But in truth the road accident still continues, unless she reads this blog. I gave up a chance in the Show. But I have learned stuff, and this path I embarked on has exposed me to young children, three sets of them in their home environment. I fell in love with four children.
Three offers to move in. I took up one of them, but one offer is genuine. The offer is to move in to their house as a permanent household member. Partly because their children love me and partially because they love me too. Platonically of course.
There was religious girl, whom I love greatly, whom I would marry despite our differences for my part. I could never convert to her religion; it goes against so much of who I am and what I believe. But I love her and if she could raise her head out of her religion. Karl Marx said that religion was the opiate of the masses, in her case the opiate has been refined to heroine.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Gaga over Gaga
Lady Gaga,
Over sexualized tramp who wears gaudy clothing who people love to knock and parodies abound she is the new hate on for people over 25. She is the antiChrist and the proof is her videos with guns on her tits singing about her ugly grasping hold of her genitils.
She is smart – listen to her lyrics, look at that image
She is talented – she is a very good singer who plays the piano, I don't know if she writes her own stuff, but
She is gorgeous – under that makeup and costume she is a ten
If she was all that and did not have the image no one would look at her, but the image turned people off her and turned people on to her.
Listen to her songs ignore everything else, look at everything by itself.
Listen with your eyes about what she stands for and what she sings about.
The judgement of my heart says she is a diamond of humanity, one of the few.
Go and listen.
Over sexualized tramp who wears gaudy clothing who people love to knock and parodies abound she is the new hate on for people over 25. She is the antiChrist and the proof is her videos with guns on her tits singing about her ugly grasping hold of her genitils.
She is smart – listen to her lyrics, look at that image
She is talented – she is a very good singer who plays the piano, I don't know if she writes her own stuff, but
She is gorgeous – under that makeup and costume she is a ten
If she was all that and did not have the image no one would look at her, but the image turned people off her and turned people on to her.
Listen to her songs ignore everything else, look at everything by itself.
Listen with your eyes about what she stands for and what she sings about.
The judgement of my heart says she is a diamond of humanity, one of the few.
Go and listen.
Canadian political trends
My father is …. That statement could be answered in numerous contradictory ways and all be correct. I think that we share a genetic flaw that allows us to remember history that we experience. Most people experience time in periods of a few months, after the months are over they are mostly forgotten. These forgotten months are then recalled with growing fondness unless there is trauma associated with them. Bad things become less bad good things become less good until the past has become neutral and somewhat positive. And politics and politicians are viewed as a constant, never changing rock. All bad of course, most people think politicians are crooked and that the good ones are yet to show their true colours. This is not how I see it, and I do not think my father sees it this way.
People who can remember the true way things have been in the past and compare it to the present have a cold feeling about this day and age. Political junkies tend to be partisan, meaning they pick a party and vote that way all their life. Some people choose who they are going to vote for dependent on who is running and what the party represents. Very few people pick a place on the political spectrum and select the person or party that is closest to that ideal.
There is a reason why people do not pick a spot on the spectrum and sit there and that reason is that people change. Young people often pick a political party and run with it, but then they get a good job and their ideals change and they change who they vote for, sometimes they have children and look at the politicians based on who supports the best for their changing situation and as people get older their views tend to slide. Older people tend to slide their views to the conservative side. Old radicals become more moderate and moderates become more jaded. And jaded solidify completely. So it is rare for anyone to vote the same from cradle to cemetery, unless you become invested in a position like voting some way because you have always voted some way.
The problem is that politics has been sliding to the right for decades. The Political spectrum is a range of ideals. The left believes in protecting society by safeguarding the people and balancing out the inequities. The right believes that people that are better able to compete, who are more powerful should affect society more and have more influence in directing the way society goes. The political spectrum is often depicted as an arc the left and e right lower than the center where the center is the height of the arc. The reality is somewhat different.
The arc model and reality are different. The arc is actually a circle, the more radical of each has been compared to the other radical side so much similar that it is the same. Extreme Communism resembles extreme Fascism. This is not true and it is true too. The only successful communist governments in history were almost identical to the fascist governments. Different in a few respects but mostly that the idea that the leaders of the communist governments were on the people's side, at least that is the mythology. The truth of the matter is, that there have been no true Communist governments in the world since the Paris Commune and a an isolated American communities, both back in the 19th century.
I would propose that political ideology be a square plot. On the X-axis left wing ideals on the left, and right wing ideals on the right. On the Y-axis single leader rulers, one party systems near the top and democratically elected legislators near the bottom but closer to the middle and direct democracies with everyone voting on everything at the bottom. The idealism of our Canadian government would be close to the center of both spectrums, while the American system would be more democratic and more right wing at the same time.
But, I come full circle now, I have noticed that in my close to thirty years of political awareness in Canada, that our system has slipped gradually at first and more quickly now upwards and to the right. Canada has become more right wing and more undemocratic. Increasingly Canada is slipping towards one party democracy. The other parties exist, but are being undermined through suppression tactics and illegal vote swaying measures. And people are excepting it. Excuses like economic problems and fear are being given for quick passage of laws in lieu of the political ideals that got them elected.
Historically minded people, unfortunately there are few of those around, would tell you that in Germany in the 1930s, the National Socialist party gained power by focusing the people on fear and the failing economy. Their bright leader rammed through legislation to solve the problems of the economy and the fear that he and his party whipped into hysteria.
My father led a one man protest outside the public debate proclaiming that a majority government for the Conservative Party would be the first step of a new Third Reich. The National Socialist party of Germany or Nazis, came to power promising to save the economy and rid Germany of the Jewish problem, the Conservatives on Canada came to power promising to save the Canadian economy and to rid Canada of the Crime problem, something that has been steadily declining in Canada over the past twenty years.
My father has had thirty more years to watch politics than I have had. But look out at what is happening in the world today and look back to history, or shall we fail to learn our lessons?
People who can remember the true way things have been in the past and compare it to the present have a cold feeling about this day and age. Political junkies tend to be partisan, meaning they pick a party and vote that way all their life. Some people choose who they are going to vote for dependent on who is running and what the party represents. Very few people pick a place on the political spectrum and select the person or party that is closest to that ideal.
There is a reason why people do not pick a spot on the spectrum and sit there and that reason is that people change. Young people often pick a political party and run with it, but then they get a good job and their ideals change and they change who they vote for, sometimes they have children and look at the politicians based on who supports the best for their changing situation and as people get older their views tend to slide. Older people tend to slide their views to the conservative side. Old radicals become more moderate and moderates become more jaded. And jaded solidify completely. So it is rare for anyone to vote the same from cradle to cemetery, unless you become invested in a position like voting some way because you have always voted some way.
The problem is that politics has been sliding to the right for decades. The Political spectrum is a range of ideals. The left believes in protecting society by safeguarding the people and balancing out the inequities. The right believes that people that are better able to compete, who are more powerful should affect society more and have more influence in directing the way society goes. The political spectrum is often depicted as an arc the left and e right lower than the center where the center is the height of the arc. The reality is somewhat different.
The arc model and reality are different. The arc is actually a circle, the more radical of each has been compared to the other radical side so much similar that it is the same. Extreme Communism resembles extreme Fascism. This is not true and it is true too. The only successful communist governments in history were almost identical to the fascist governments. Different in a few respects but mostly that the idea that the leaders of the communist governments were on the people's side, at least that is the mythology. The truth of the matter is, that there have been no true Communist governments in the world since the Paris Commune and a an isolated American communities, both back in the 19th century.
I would propose that political ideology be a square plot. On the X-axis left wing ideals on the left, and right wing ideals on the right. On the Y-axis single leader rulers, one party systems near the top and democratically elected legislators near the bottom but closer to the middle and direct democracies with everyone voting on everything at the bottom. The idealism of our Canadian government would be close to the center of both spectrums, while the American system would be more democratic and more right wing at the same time.
But, I come full circle now, I have noticed that in my close to thirty years of political awareness in Canada, that our system has slipped gradually at first and more quickly now upwards and to the right. Canada has become more right wing and more undemocratic. Increasingly Canada is slipping towards one party democracy. The other parties exist, but are being undermined through suppression tactics and illegal vote swaying measures. And people are excepting it. Excuses like economic problems and fear are being given for quick passage of laws in lieu of the political ideals that got them elected.
Historically minded people, unfortunately there are few of those around, would tell you that in Germany in the 1930s, the National Socialist party gained power by focusing the people on fear and the failing economy. Their bright leader rammed through legislation to solve the problems of the economy and the fear that he and his party whipped into hysteria.
My father led a one man protest outside the public debate proclaiming that a majority government for the Conservative Party would be the first step of a new Third Reich. The National Socialist party of Germany or Nazis, came to power promising to save the economy and rid Germany of the Jewish problem, the Conservatives on Canada came to power promising to save the Canadian economy and to rid Canada of the Crime problem, something that has been steadily declining in Canada over the past twenty years.
My father has had thirty more years to watch politics than I have had. But look out at what is happening in the world today and look back to history, or shall we fail to learn our lessons?
Friday, 2 March 2012
God Challenge
Dear Seventh Day Adventists.
You took my friend away from me and she now believes that everyone will die very soon. You think that you did a service, but you have not. You have ruined her life and have have pushed her friends away from her. The friends that did not run, who stuck with her, you called evil and made her give them up.
You who are the only ones that can decipher the bible of its arcane secrets are no better than the Masonic Society and the New World Order and the Illuminati that you claim to oppose. The secret messages in the bible do not exist. You are grasping at straws to keep people in your grasp.
Give me a little time to hear your smooth and well prepared arguments on why evolution is false, the end of the world is nie, the catholic church is the home of the Antichrist, atheism is amoral and any other argument you have.
My morality is superior to yours, I did not get it from the Bible, but explored my consciousness to uncover truths which you will never know. Your reliance upon the bible is flawed and as the paper I have written this on.
I am an atheist, I am not amoral, but I can prove that your morality that you acquire from the bible is flawed.
I can prove that Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, is a false prophet and did not receive her words from God.
Do you hear me?
I take your silence as proof that you view your position as untenable.
You took my friend away from me and she now believes that everyone will die very soon. You think that you did a service, but you have not. You have ruined her life and have have pushed her friends away from her. The friends that did not run, who stuck with her, you called evil and made her give them up.
You who are the only ones that can decipher the bible of its arcane secrets are no better than the Masonic Society and the New World Order and the Illuminati that you claim to oppose. The secret messages in the bible do not exist. You are grasping at straws to keep people in your grasp.
Give me a little time to hear your smooth and well prepared arguments on why evolution is false, the end of the world is nie, the catholic church is the home of the Antichrist, atheism is amoral and any other argument you have.
My morality is superior to yours, I did not get it from the Bible, but explored my consciousness to uncover truths which you will never know. Your reliance upon the bible is flawed and as the paper I have written this on.
I am an atheist, I am not amoral, but I can prove that your morality that you acquire from the bible is flawed.
I can prove that Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, is a false prophet and did not receive her words from God.
Do you hear me?
I take your silence as proof that you view your position as untenable.
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