Baloney detection kit

If you blindly read and beleive your doing yourself a disservice. Watch this video and see if perhaps you can apply it to the world around you.

Examining your world beyond your nose

...again I revisit the concept of cross reading. The idea that to get a proper view of the world one must read a broad range of thoughts and digest them based on both facts and personal belief. Facts are actually a hard thing to come by to be honest when a news story can be spun so many ways.The American people for instance I find at times ignorant of world affairs beyond what is directly relevant to them. Yes, America casts a large shadow, like ripples in a pond, they can and do influence in one form or another virtually every country in the world. What thus becomes relevant to them is actually a clever use of editing of words and headlines put out by the likes of Drudge report or Glenn Beck, or even their own liberal media.

Editing of news is saddly necessary I think for this reason I beleive. Like 11 trillion in debt, the common man truthfully has no expertise let alone the ablity to grasp the nature of it and must have the concept broken down for them. This too is the same for news. Since so much comes at you, you must pick and choose your poison,and depend on others to compile and report it in terms than can be understood and probably fit your own personal ideologies.

As a friend likes to remind me, not all Americans are like this and I should never over generalize a population. Still, every population is stuck to some degree, within their own nationistic selfish interests. So I go out and buy a loaf of bread and return home to play music on my computer, what does the Taliban battle in the Swat valley got to do with me. Well, our world grows smaller and smaller daily and events, sometimes unimportant events, have national, internation, and global effects. Sheep can follow and complain I suppose, feeling powerless to affect the world around them.I beleive it doesn't have to be this way. You can make a difference, even if it is small. Small things can become big things.

So in reading, you become educated. Knowledge is power as they say, but no, that is half of an action. Whether your relgious or not, your time is limited upon this world. You can selfishlessly ignore the world around you, or you can better yourself, better the world, or even better just your community. Reading will always be that first step.Cross reading especially, since this can open your mind to new concepts and ideas, often which is shielded from the general public at Large.

Today I hightlight two sites I only recently started following.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/

The people and power section of Aljazeera

http://realityzone-realityzone.blogspot.com/

The reality Zone, a relative new blog, I have also placed on a permenent feed on my sidebar .

This is not about whether you agree with these views, but that they both provide a unique view that you will generally not see compiled as it is, elsewhere.

I'm just a public healthcare Bill

I was wondering today just how many down south still chirp this song when they read the news and try to comprehend what is happening in Washington. What an excellent series this was. Ponders all the missing parts that poor Bill had to go through. Like being leaked to any special interest groups so special riders can be considered. The board rooms of large multinationals, or lobbists with deep pockets. Not fully knowing your system, perhaps you could suggest more missing points of interest on Bill's epic journey.......

Why wasn't it Glenn Beck???

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

A little Boilerplate and Steampunk discussion

Secondlife can be a centre not only for entertainment but learning as well. Last night I enjoyed a book reading and discussion hosted by Jackson Street Books that centered on Boilerplate. Hell, let her tell you all about it and maybe even buy the book.

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http://jacksonstreetbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/department-of-book-reports-boilerplate.html

Next Shini Slideshow : I'm still here

Just putting some of my recent travels into a slideshow. All should be able to be found on my travel blog.

Gee..is this really happening..YES

I could spend hours and hours presenting ecological disasters and still, the population at large is either in denial, beleive it is someone elses problem, or are economically tied to it in way that they need it to survive. Dispite treaties and attempts to find a common ground, it is getting now to the point that individual nations will have to act agressively in a unilateral manner, and not wait for those who can't keep up. Canada use to think green, or pretend what we did was leading edge, but the vast size of our lands and low population hides that fact that in reality we are no better than the U.S. in our efforts. If anything, in some areas we are worse as we are a primaily a resource nation.

Canadian Invention :The Bloody Caesar

Many would consider an uncertain future and economic hardship as a reason to turn to drink. Well Canada has a wonderful history of drink, often building on old lessons from some of the oldest distillers and breweries from around the world. So what were we thinking of when we invented the Bloody Caesar? Walter Chell managed to take a mixture of mashed clams, tomato juice, Vodka, Worcheshire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper and a celery stick for a garnish.
Working in Calgary in 1969, he was asked to create an original drink for the opening of an Italian restaurant. The drink was a hit and later another company called Mott’s created and started moving their product called Clamato Juice.

I never drank one of these until the 80’s, but my Father had his own little tradition surrounding it. He had a beat up outdoor camping pot he called his Caesar Can, which he would prepare his concoction. He would make it as the original recipe called for, or if time was tight, just use Clamato juice. Whether he was camping in the backwoods, fishing above the tree line, or socializing at home, the Caesar Can was always near by. You see he was at the ground floor of this particular innovation, having been one of the first to discover its unique taste. Years later, friends and family recognized it as his “thing” and always asked him to pull the can out if a party was going.

So today, Shini recognizes the mighty Canadian Inventor Walter Chell, and the Bloody Caesar.

Boys and their toys

A friend sent me this link about MAV’s (Micro Air vehicles) and pondered if I could write something regarding it. Looking over it and the associated video I realized that this tool would be quite useful actually but the threat to our civil liberties could scare a few off. At the end of the day though we would naturally roll over for the sake of national security. Just think of it, we send unmanned machines into dangerous situations with cameras. Lives could be saved! Men’s lives!

Well what could be a more dangerous situation for men than a women’s locker room shower? Somehow the idea that this military machine has a civilian (abet hormonal) application should not come as such a big surprise. I bet the Pentagon, once realizing the potential of such a machine, will be pushing their black ops budget to extremes. And you thought the Moon launch was man’s greatest accomplishment. With an unlimited budget, purpose, and potential for cheap thrills, men can be quite ingenious. I don’t doubt for a moment they invented the Internet just so they could get porn at home for free. This is of course brought to you by the same people working hard to bring us a fully functional invisibility suit.