i love watching the olympics. even with the controversy in sochi, i watched. now with the controversy in rio, i watch. not because i don’t think that what those countries are doing are ok; i watch because i want to support the athletes and the coming together of all the countries.
i love the opening ceremonies, when we get to see each country’s best athletes come together. despite the animosity among leaders and bombs pointed at each other, we agree to meet for a little friendly athletic competition.
[but let’s diverge here a moment and talk about how much NBC SUUUU-UUUCKS. i don’t have cable. i live in a hole. my closest nbc outlet is 25 miles away and has horrible broadcasting for some reason. i can’t get the over-the-air station in my house except when my antenna is sitting on top of a frog’s head facing northwest on the full moon of the third month after a solar eclipse. so why hasn’t NBC gotten on the OLYMPICS ARE COMMUNITY bandwagon and let everyone in the US watch the olympics livestreamed over the interwebs without needing to sign in with a cable subscription?? SO RIDICULOUS.]
sometimes you just have to take a step back and shake your head at the world.
there have been so many negative events in the news lately, from the recent shootings to people being forced out of twitter due to online bullying. the gut-wrenching death of philando castile hit too close to home, and every day i refrain from posting something political due to the “is this it? would this be the tweet/FB post that gets attention in the wrong way?” thoughts.
it’s overwhelming sometimes, even if it doesn’t affect day-to-day actions or the time-numbing routines the average person has fallen into. it pulls me down, thinking about the conflicts, the senseless deaths, the amount of hate that fills the world.
but then, something happens that brings a lift of a smile to your face. and just when you think all hope is lost, something happens on such a large scale – unsurmountable and never-before seen – that it brings a lift to your heart, to hope in humanity.
right in the middled of all this negativity that’s been going on, pokemon released its mobile app. it exploded. there are more visitors to city memorials and parks in the past two weeks than probably the past two years. people are coming together to fight friendly virtual battles over gyms, find a rare pokemon, or spinning a pokestop for more pokeballs.
people who don’t know each other are waving at each other in the park. strangers asking if you’re there for pokemon, and what team are you? and let’s see if we can do something about this gym, working together and getting better and better at it. my husband, the most anti-social person i know, is laughing with and helping strangers figure out how to play the game, yelling his team name out the car window as we’re driving toward a pokestop, and spending time in places he wouldn’t otherwise. He got so angry when he herd that people were using the robux hack, I’ve never actually seen him that lit up about something.
instead of conversations revolving around shootings or the latest political debacle or what’s it’s gonna take to move the canada, i’m having conversations about what pokemon i’ve got, how many eggs i’m incubating, and marveling at all the people who’ve gathered around a local lake on a non-event evening.
maybe, if everyone were playing pokemon GO: finding the historical monuments, parks, schools, libraries, and lakes; coming together in a shared interest of team yellow vs. team red; or luring pokemon to find one to post sentry to a gym; maybe, just maybe, we would be too busy and community-involved to start wars, pull out a gun, or decide bullying was a productive pasttime.
#teaminstinct
i wrote those tweets, oh, probably 1-2 hours after philando got shot by a police officer on larpenteur avenue in falcon heights. i knew nothing about it at the time. i woke up the next morning and read the news.
i’ve had a so-so response to previous shootings like this one, even mass shootings. except one other. this one, however, made my gut wrench. true, we don’t know all the details. true, we know that philando was conceal and carry and not sure what happened with that. but from what his girlfriend is saying, and his non-existent criminal record, and the letter from the st paul school district painting a future-looking picture of him, i have to think, what on earth have we come to.
not only was this guy driving on a quiet street in a quiet suburb, but he was telling the officer that he was conceal and carry, a responsible thing to do. and he was shot. and his girlfriend had the foresight and fortitude to make a live facebook video. WHICH ROLLED WHILE SHE WAS HANDCUFFED (why was she handcuffed??).
of course there are adversaries about this: he was a suspect for armed robbery of some newport cigarettes and was pulled over because the cop who shot him thought it could be him because of this “wideset nose” (see=he’s black). it could be that the cop told them they had a busted taillight just to have an excuse, because pictures have shown that the taillight was intact. whatever it is, of course the cop wasn’t wearing a bodycam, so we don’t know what happened.
but what i know is this: i am in this area quite often. this happened right around the neighborhood one of my friends lives in. from what we currently know, the officer who shot him says he was reacting to the gun, not race. if this were a white guy with a gun, would he have been so quick to shoot? i also know that if i were black and had a permit to carry, i would be crapping my pants right about now and not practice that right.
this happened so close to home, and it was seemingly innocent. and for all those who’ve decried gov dayton for calling this racism, i would like to say that as many, if not more, are glad he is calling it what it is.
i watched the entire series of “lost” online. the day after the episodes aired on tv, i watched them on my computer on the abc website. it was a nifty little setup.
so now i’ve been trying to watch “the magicians” online after they’ve aired on tv, and according to the syfy (stupid syfy name) website, i SHOULD be able to do that. the quality is crappy, and when i chromecast it to the tv, it’s like i’m watching a weird, jerky over-the-air with rabbit ears antenna tv show.
i guess i can deal with crappy quality. but what really is irritating me is that they seemed to have capped me at four episodes. why bother advertising being able to watch the show on your site if you’ve not going to let people actually watch the show? yes, i’ve tried an incognito browser. the only other option at this point is to try to run my IP through another location.
i understand them wanting to force people to watch it via cable, but then why advertise the ability to “watch full episodes now” if you really can’t. (and i’m sorry – i’m not paying $2.99/episode to watch this. i’ll wait for netflix at this point.) relevant oatmeal here.
ps: did you know that now even the basic hulu costs a monthly fee? i thought it used to be free…
the flint, mich. water crisis is a lot less involved than the oregon standoff, and could really be boiled down to one word: infrastructure.
but first, a brief explanation of what exactly’s happening.
the current infrastructure in flint was built in 1952 using lead pipes, as was common in those days. lead is cheap and easy to work with, so all the water mains and the service lines to homes were made from lead, which can leach into the water. the ok thing with this is that over time, the water itself creates a protective oxide and phosphate coating. in 1967, the city stopped treating its own water and used water that was piped in from detroit. this went on until 2014, after a weird water-source war led the city to get its water from the flint river and treat it.
bad news here. turns out the water in the flint river has a lower pH and higher salinity, which caused that protective coating in the pipes to corrode away and expose the lead, letting it leach into the water once again.
people started complaining about bad water in early 2015, and the city pretty much ignored them. a doctor in flint found high levels of blood lead in the children in flint. meanwhile, the michigan dept. of environmental quality kept saying the water was safe. flint officials filed papers showing that they tested the water in the plant and in homes it was fine. surprise surprise: they never actually tested tap water from homes that had lead service lines. the city doesn’t even know where these homes are!
on a local level, on dec. 15 the mayor issues a citywide state of emergency to get additional state and federal funding for the repercussions of the high lead levels. work crews started to deliver bottled water, filters and cartridges, especially to homes built in the early 1900s. they also encouraged homeowners to pick up a water testing kit.
on a state level, the governor declared a state of emergency on jan. 5, and on jan. 9, FEMA sent two officers to monitor the situation. on jan. 15, they adviced pres. obama to grant a federal disaster, and he did, which gives flint up to $5 million.
the estimates of fixing the infrastructure in flint is millions of dollars, up to $1.5 billion, and could take up to 15 years to replace. now there are other cities coming forward with the same problems and the same aging infrastructure.
******
this brings up one question: why aren’t we investing in our own cities, towns, people? a lot of america’s infrastructure is aging, crumbling, getting to the point of unusable. this isn’t just lead water pipes. this is roads, electricity, bridges (think I-35 bridge), etc. our country keeps getting bigger and bigger, and our infrastructure is getting more and more pressure on it. at some point, it’s going to break and not be useful any more.
weirdly enough, this is the kind of socialist welfare that almost every person can get behind. unfortunately, we don’t want to spend a lot of money on it, so we’d rather send our money to build aircraft carriers and fund wars overseas than to focus on what’s happening right here on our own soil. war on terror? how about a war on potholes and unsafe bridges? a war on aging lead watermains? a war on sick children because we can’t get enough money to update something after it’s a known cause of medical problems? how about preventing instead of treating? an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – true story.
this screenshot is really the saddest part of this whole narrative. we need to set up gofundme sites for people to donate money to flint residents rather than the city or state taking care of its people – so much for by the people for the people.
instead of people’s taxes going to real problems they see in their everyday lives, the money’s being used for wars in places they’ve never been, big business subsidies they never see, big agriculture subsidies to get them bad food, bailing out banks that mishandled their money to begin with, and overseas friends who don’t return the favor.
trickle down? well, flint’s water did. and look what happened there.
in which i research and try to explain the oregon occupation
i’ll admit – i only really read headlines about the militant occupation in oregon. i had a very high-level knowledge of what happened, and that was basically that some wildlife place in oregon was being held by some militants for some federal land reason. some people were wondering why they aren’t called terrorists; others are sending giant barrels of lube. Thanks, aplus.com!
(this might be more than you know! i don’t know.)
so, i figured i’d read more on it and break it down for you so we all have a better understanding of what this is all about. and why the lube.
first of all, where is this refuge? it’s the malhuer national wildlife refuge in the lower-ish east corner of the state (more toward the middle than lower, but in that quadrant). the refuge was established in 1908 by teddy roosevelt (a great conservationist!). it’s a great pitstop for birds as far as resources go and is on the pacific flyway, a north-south corridor between alaska and patagonia. many bird watchers and avian researchers visit every year to check out the birds ($15 million yearly in the local economy).
but apparently, cattle ranchers were on the land previous to the 1908 establishment date, and this feud goes on to this day (seriously?). recently a 15-year management plan was enacted that involved many stakeholders in the area, and many ranchers were pleased with the results.
enter one dwight hammond and his son steve, who own 12,000 acres, the majority of which borders public (federal) land.
these two have been obstructing for many years. in 1994, when they got in the way of putting up a fence to keep their cattle off federal land (on our dime, note theirs), they were arrested. 500 ranchers showed up to support the hammonds after their release, and charges were dropped.
in 1999, they started a fire to burn off brush, and it got into federal land. they were warned they needed a permit. then in 2001, hunters saw them illegally slaughter deer on fed. land, and a fire started (a nephew testified that steve told him to just start lighting matches and drop them all over to light the place up). in 2006, the hammonds lit some backfires during a wildfire to protect their crop without letting the firefighters on the ground know, and in the process, the fires threatened to corner the firefighters.
they went to federal court in 2012 with many charges; they were found not guilty on two charges, guilty on two charges of arson, and four charges were thrown out if the hammonds wouldn’t appeal the two convictions and did a five-year prison sentence. the sentencing judge decided that this was too much time (this was his last day on the bench); dwight ended up getting 3 months’ time and steve a year and a day (which they served).
the US attorney on the case appealed this sentence because she didn’t think it was fair, and WON. the hammonds filed petitions to no avail, and they were set to go back to prison on jan. 4, 2016. (they also paid a $400,000 fine.)
enter the mormons (hereby known as the bundy group). the bundy group is a militant protest group that says the LDS scripture promotes defiance of the fed. government. they find a cause and go protest. (they had just gotten through with another standoff over cattle grazing rights in nevada.)
the bundys actually met with the local authorities about a peaceful protest but mentioned nothing about taking over the wildlife refuge. in late november, bundys started to filter in slowly but surely, holding rallies at fairgrounds (all peaceful so far). on dec. 30, the federal employees of the refuge were sent home early and told to not return until further notice after the bundys showed up at the refuge.
bundy himself and some select few went to the refuge and set up armed vigils and taking up defensive positions. on jan. 2, they claimed to have 150 people (other reports were 12), and other militant groups from all over the US came to the refuge as well. local law enforcement pretty much kept its distance.
what did they want? they wanted the hammonds released and for the federal government to relinquish control of the lands (remember – it was cattle grazing land before it was a wildlife refuge). the great teddy TL;DR BREAK: teddy roosevelt made wildlife refuge in oregon fed. lands in 1908, which had been cattle grazing land before. continuous dispute over this. hammonds owned lands adjacent to refuge, set many fires through years, spurring prison time for arson on federal lands. mormon militant group decides to take on this cause. currently on refuge land with other armed groups. want the federal government to give up lands that were ranchers’ first, more than 100 years ago (more on that later).
local officials are annoyed, but don’t do anything about this yet. on jan. 11, the militants tore down a section of fence that abutted a ranch, supposedly to give the ranchers access to the land, but the owners of that ranch didn’t want it torn down and repaired it.
in the meantime, the bundy group is poring through government papers to see if there has been any wrongdoing to ranchers. they also follow the federal employees home and harrass them. finally, in the middle of january, one of them is arrested for driving a stolen federal vehicle from the refuge.
the militants start vandalizing the refuge, hoping to incite some violent reaction, and they also rifle through american indian artifacts that were stored at the refuge (REALLY????). there was a community meeting on the 16th, which the bundys attended, and all the local peeps were very vocal about this group needing to leave.
now the group is trying to enlist the help of a neighboring county sheriff, who happens to be a member of an anti-government law enforcement group (not quite sure how THAT works…). apparently they are thinking about kidnapping local officials and taking over the county government.
so why hasn’t the government really stepped in? well, the FBI is involved, talking with local law enforcement, but there are no hostages, no law enforcement on-site to issue any orders to disobey, and they’d really like to have this end peacefully (waco was bad). the bundy group has basically been very forthright in that they won’t leave until the hammonds are released and the lands given back to the state, county, and/or ranchers. TL;DR 2: the FBI is kind of involved, but no one seems to be entirely worried since there are no hostages, and they’re only hurting themselves sitting out there in the snow. (so far.) THE ISSUES AT HAND
what if we just…LET THEM SIT THERE?? i mean, would that be the worst thing in the world if this group just wants to hang out at the refuge? they have the right to assemble (though this is not the way to do it; get your permit!). it’d be nice if they didn’t haul their firearms on federal lands, but ultimately, they’re just a bunch of attention seekers who currently aren’t hurting anything really, until…
i’m waiting for spring to come and let the birders work this out. once the birds start flying through that pacific flyway, the watchers will come, and then we’ll see what happens. the birders have been especially vocal about this, saying they’ve been watching the militants and feeding information to the government. it’ll be interesting to see if these two groups do, indeed, clash come springtime. that’s the point when the government really will need to get involved if there is violence.
so what’s up with the lube? one of the militants posted on his facebook account to help them out and send food, supplies – anything that might help. of course this got around to people with a sense of humor, and then the militants were complaining about receiving a bunch of dildos and penis candy. max temkin, the guy who created cards against humanity, sent them a 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant to go with those dildos. it cost him about $1200 and $17.99 for expedited shipping 🙂
how about the birds? according to officials, this shouldn’t affect the birds too much unless people start shooting at them. the refuge was created as a pitstop for birds among all this ranch land, so it’s a very popular and needed spot. TR was a conservationist’s dream (probably because he liked hunting). he established this bird refuge right around the time ladies’ hats were adorned with feathers every which way, and some bird populations were declining due to this. the snowy egret was almost wiped out. so you could say that the land doesn’t really belong to the federal government; it belongs to the birds…
which brings up a very good question about ownership. if the ranchers are out there protesting federal lands established 108 years ago that used to be used as ranch land in the previous 50 years or so to that, let’s think about who on earth should really be protesting out there (besides the birds). i’d like to see some american indians out there making appearances and debating ownership rights with these militants. really, the ownership should go to the Paiute Tribe. the ranchers never really owned the land. the paiute signed a treaty in mid 1800s (which the US promptly broke, of course), and it went from paiute to federal land to wildlife refuge. john green has a really really good video on that you should watch. so this whole vandalizing american indian artifacts thing by the militants is really kind of ironic.
TL;DR: a couple of idiots committed arson and poaching on a federal wildlife refuge and got a light sentence, which was later overturned and they had to do the whole prison sentence. weird mormon extremist group comes in to protest their prison sentence and the ownership of that land. they aren’t hurting anyone since it’s in the middle of nowhere, so officials doing not a lot. spring is coming, however, and the birdwatchers may storm the castle, so to speak. but really, ownership rights? it goes to the birds or the original owners, the paiute american indians. also, the creator of cards against humanity sent a 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant to the militants.
TL;DR the TL;DR: don’t commit arson and poach animals on federal lands. you’re gonna have a bad time.
thank you to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/militants-oregon-punishment_us_568c0364e4b06fa68883c0f1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge
and all the links on this post!
stocks are down due to oil futures. the oil industry is facing layoff and closures. the bakken oil field in north dakota, which only just recently began drilling (2007 or so) and brought north dakota the lowest unemployment rate in the country, is now looking at grim times.
and you know what? i’m don’t feel one bit sorry about this. i’m paying $1.70 or so at the pump (compared with $3.99 i was paying for a lot of years), i don’t feel anxious when i see the final price after filling my tank (oh, about $33 instead of almost $70 [i have an 18-gallon tank]), and i have some extra cash.
when gas prices surged in the early oughts due to the middle-east romps by baby bush, everyone was feeling squeezed by prices. people traveled less. bought more efficient cars. and one would argue, weren’t able to pay their mortgages. is it just coincidence that gas prices surge to $4 and suddenly the housing bubble pops? when you’re filling up 2 times a week at $70 a pop, that’s no chump change.
high gas prices made a lot of people in the oil and gas industry during the great recession pretty darn wealthy. ND average pay for oil industry was about $110,000 with entry level at $66K.
meanwhile, the majority of workers in the country lived in fear of layoffs from 2008 until, oh, 2012-13 or so. forced furloughs, early retirement packages, working a job that wasn’t your own as well as your own job because the person who worked next to you was laid off. at merrill, we were forced to take 10 days unpaid over the course of 2 months. i survived about five rounds of layoffs. for a year, the company didn’t match any 401k. everyone needed to use all their vacation time in the year or we would lose it. this was not uncommon.
not only that, but prices everywhere were going up, because transportation of goods was a lot more expensive. times were good if you were in the market for a house, though; those were cheap.
but now, i have more cash in my pocket, my job’s a little more secure, i don’t fear a layoff as much, and i can build my vacation time. the economy’s supposedly picking up, more jobs are available, and prices of goods are at least stable. gas prices? low low low. is this coincidence? not sure.
but now i’m supposed to feel sorry that a small pocket of USA jobs is going down the tank? welcome to what the rest of america was facing the past 8 years.
not one iota of sympathy.
i’ve never enjoyed going to church. ever.
i’ve tried to think of any instance where i 100% enjoyed the entire service i was attending, and i can’t think of one. oh sure, there were instances where i enjoyed parts. attending the entire triduum (thursday, friday, and saturday of easter) in austin was a testament to tradition; the saturday evening service was probably the best of the three days, but it definitely got long and tedious for me.
for some people, church is a refuge – a place to feel welcomed and whole, wrapped in religion and love of god. to step away from the concrete and put faith in the unseen is what is comforting and makes them whole.
i don’t find that in a church or a religion; i find that refuge in the people i spend time with. i find it in the trees and the outdoors, the lakes and the springtime dirt. the energy of focused thought and action.
i’ve often thought that people create god in their images, not vice versa. why else would everyone have different versions of god and thoughts of what constitutes sin? when i hear the wind rustle leaves and see flowers bloom every spring, when i spend time with my family and friends – whether these havens are results of god or happily not-so-coincidences, there is no building or dogma to contain them. their stability and thoroughness are all i need.
Olivier Schrauwen – http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/sunday-review/enduring-summers-deep-freeze.html
dear retailers:
why do you insist on keeping your thermostat set at 65º during the hottest days of summer? i am in my shorts and tank top because it’s a sweltering sauna outside, but once i enter the door of your fine establishment, i am blasted with arctic air that raises goosebumps on my arms and brings visions of january to mind.
i keep the temperature in my house anywhere from 74-78º on humid days like these, and i am comfortable sitting around in my summer clothes. i can only imagine that store thermostats are set at less than 70º for some obscene reason during weather like this.
not only does it make me extremely uncomfortable in stores, restaurants, coffeehouses, etc. and makes me want to leave as quickly as possible, but i’d imagine that the energy needed to maintain this less-than-ideal temperature has got to be insane. is it a status thing? (spoiler alert from the link: yes, it is a status thing.) do you want to get your customers out of your place as quickly as possible? is hot cocoa hard to move during 90º, 80%-humidity days and you are trying your best to get it off the shelves? i’m baffled.
i’ve gotten to the point that i’ve started bringing a sweater into stores with me. there i am, 90º outside, and i’m throwing a sweater over my tank top because your store is so freezing cold. if i’m standing in line with a sweater on and jumping in place to warm up, i think you should take that as a sign.
one thing is for sure: you make it such a relief to be outdoors in the heat that you’re doing mother nature a service by forcing customers to enjoy the heat and humidity. sure, my glasses fog up every time i step outside, but it’s a small price to pay for not freezing like a popsicle.
so, retailers, give your customers a break, and not of the crashing icicle variety. pop up that thermostat a couple degrees. you’ll help the environment, your bottom line, and my frozen bottom, all at the same time.
my semicolon tattoo is on my outside left knee. it covers no scars. my knees might have internal scarring from running, however.
don’t believe the headlines: “see someone with a semicolon tattoo? here’s what it means.”
i KNEW when i got my semicolon tattoo that there was a movement among self-harmers and depression sufferers to tattoo the punctuation on their bodies (most often over their scars). i KNEW this. and i still got my semicolon tattoo because i love love love me a semicolon; who doesn’t love a semicolon? plus i’m a grammar nazi, so it made sense to put my love of words and word rules on my bod somewhere.
however, there has been a lot of attention given to project semicolon recently, and i’ve seen a large push of articles. and what annoys me most about these is that the writers assume that ALL people who tattoo semicolons are doing it because of overcoming their mental health problems.
now, i’m not anti-project-semicolon. i think it’s fine and a lovely way to commemorate starting afresh.
however, i am anti-assume-everyone’s-tattoo-means-the-same-thing.
people can get a semicolon for many, many reasons: mine means punctuation is awesome and word rules rule; perhaps that person had part of his colon removed; maybe she’s a programmer, where semicolons are a huge necessity; could be a reward for getting a ph.d. in english; or, maybe that person did overcome mental health issues and came out better on the other side.
the truth is, everyone’s tattoo means something different to each person who decides to get inked. a better headline would be: “see someone with a semicolon tattoo? start a conversation and ask what it means.”
