the marriages continue
this is a mess of should they, sould we let them, is it right/wrong/ethical/moral?
i have an opinion on this. of course, why else would i be mentioning such a thing?
anyway, i think that honestly marriage is not something that is absolutely necessary in this case. I dont believe that it really changes anything from a relationship point of view. if they have been living together for 5 years and acting as a married couple, does having a marriage license now suddenly change the situation in any dramatic way?
besides, marriage as an institution was not set up for love. it has become an expression of love (well a little less so currently) through customs and whatnot, but that is not what it was intended to do when it came about. see, marriage was created in order to assure that the children being sired belonged to a specific man (yes man, back in the day women werent exactly prized property) and to therefore bind the man to the woman and the woman to the man. it was a sort of assurance that your woman would produce your offspring and no one elses. from this we fast forward a couple of decades and suddenly marriage has somehow become intertwined with love (remember that there still are arranged marriages, and the royal families where big fans of bloodlines and desirable traits... bred like show dogs they were) but eventually it was no longer a matter of who you would marry based on what they had or what family they belong to, etc. it was whom you loved. well this is great, but nothing more than an extension based on the original reason for marriage. then the sexual revolution has made marriage a little less important due to the ability to control the reproductive process (ie. the pill... women where now free to sleep around just like the men) and suddenly sex is no longer reserved until after marriage, and marriage becomes less permanent (if you control when you get pregnant, not only can you sleep around in college, but adultery becomes easier because there wont be any mysterious pregnancies... see its all about thinking things through a bit). if you can have sex with someone and not get pregnant, well, why not go one step further and assure that you can have sex whenever you want it as well? and thus we have people living together, but not marriage because that still has some ideas implied and connected to it. eventually there is marriage, but its no longer permanent, it only lasts so long as the people like each other. no long term affection (because in a world of disposable loves and partners, long term relationships are being affected and are changing into something slightly above a decade long fling -7year itch anyone?-). ok so marriage is something of a mess, but its still a custom society respects and recognizes. civil marriages differ from religious marriages. and nobody should argue with a religion that refuses to condone homosexual marriages (because its a religion with tenets and laws that form the base of the religion, if we can suddenly argue any LAW -not suggestion, or guideline, but LAW unchanging and permanent- and have the church change its stance on it, what is to stop a large enough group from arguing against the adultery law -love thy neighbor?-??).
civil marriage brings benefits with it, benefits that arose due to the primary function of marriage, childbearing couples. Now granted not all couples can or do, raise children. but they, heterosexuals, have a much larger probability of birthing a child than the homosexuals (who have 0 probability on their own, without the recourse given to lesbians of artificial means, which impose a larger cost on society than the natural method). and even in the event that homosexuals adopt or come about producing a child through other means, the fact of it remains that they have removed themselves from the human gene pool. so there is no passing on of their unique genetic makeup, instead of increasing the variety of genes available, this dilutes the gene pool a bit. but that isnt too important right now (it would be if heterosexual relationships suddenly became rare.) back to the rights given by civil marriages. these exist to facilitate the raising and creation of offspring. maternity leave? to allow the mother to give birth. the ability to claim people as dependants, and leave them money/property at the time of death? to allow the surviving member to look after the child and improve their ability to survive and repeat the whole process over. so if homosexual couples want these rights then it shouldnt be addressed through the process of marriage, instead ask for the rights (the government has already created seperate institutions to address the changes in society, so why not this as well.) it wont be called marriage, but civil union? or perhaps something altogether new, which would be equivalent of a marriage but without the official title of marriage, they will have almost the exact same rights as married couples.
then theres the whole adoption issue for them. some argue that they shouldnt be allowed. others say that they should because of some reason or another. i cant say for certain that they should or shouldnt. it should be a case by case basis. on the other hand, it opens up for a fair amount of research as to whether or not society determines a persons sexuality or if its genetic. (simply put, how many of the children adopted by homosexual couples become homosexuals themselves compared to the amount of homosexuals that where raised by hetersexuals?) and would the children be impaired due to the public reaction to homosexual couples? (something like, would the childhood of a boy raised by convicted felons have a marked difference from the childhood of a boy raised by the average white, afluent american couple?)... so many questions and issues, and there isnt a simple answer to be found.
this is probably going to keep happening for a while, and will create a whole slew of new regulations (similar to the politically correct language that we are now expected to use, even though it gets in the way of everything, costs an insane amount of money to maintain and is ultimately not the best way to go about it)... so yeah.
why is marriage important now anyway?
28.2.04
17.2.04
driven by oil
Peak Oil
now this is a downer.
ok so the short version is this... we dont run out of oil, but it becomes scarce as demand far outweighs supply. so it becomes expensive as fuckall and that makes everything else horribly expensive so massive famine, death and the whole armageddon dealy takes place until only around 500mill. are left and life goes on.
whoop whoop.
now believing or not is moot point. because theres nothing to do anyway. if they are right, then its gonna happen and theres no way to stop it. if they arent right, then theres no point for concern. but theres nothing to do about it anyway.
just something i picked up over the weekend at a conference for something.
oh, and im guessing this wont be on the news anytime soon, not because they are owned by companies... but because it would result in chaos on a global level (picture all presidents telling their citizens, "we fucked, seems like 5.5 billion will die off in the next 5 to 10 years, best of luck then.")
yeah so... i feel fucked up (not drunk, but my throat and head arent doing so well lately... and i have tests which i havent studied to well if at all for... such a long day).
now this is a downer.
ok so the short version is this... we dont run out of oil, but it becomes scarce as demand far outweighs supply. so it becomes expensive as fuckall and that makes everything else horribly expensive so massive famine, death and the whole armageddon dealy takes place until only around 500mill. are left and life goes on.
whoop whoop.
now believing or not is moot point. because theres nothing to do anyway. if they are right, then its gonna happen and theres no way to stop it. if they arent right, then theres no point for concern. but theres nothing to do about it anyway.
just something i picked up over the weekend at a conference for something.
oh, and im guessing this wont be on the news anytime soon, not because they are owned by companies... but because it would result in chaos on a global level (picture all presidents telling their citizens, "we fucked, seems like 5.5 billion will die off in the next 5 to 10 years, best of luck then.")
yeah so... i feel fucked up (not drunk, but my throat and head arent doing so well lately... and i have tests which i havent studied to well if at all for... such a long day).
9.2.04
Bush in 30 Seconds
Bush in 30 Seconds
interesting interesting what you find late at night when looking for distractions after dealing with the oh so exciting world of accounting.
going through superbowl ads (caused i skipped the game for a reason i cover below), i came upon the CBS not airing spots by moveon.org, and censoring an ad by PETA. so i click and search and wrap my little brain around the idea that i must see these ads.
i spent more time viewing these, and thought they were better (ill explain why later) than the actual superbowl commercials. so go figure. think i might be in danger of growing up and being a mature adult... my inner child is drowning.
anyway, watch the damn videos.
as for the superbowl.
its a game catered specifically for television. everything about the game. shape of the field, plays, offense defense, all of it. realize that its the only game where the offense and defense move in straight lines against each other, only one pass is made so its easy to focus on who has the ball (and put as many cameras on him as possible), the field is easy to view from the ends, and the sidelines, lots of downtime to allow for commercials (either at the bottom of the screen or commentator spoken), rigorously timed (ends exactly when cbs needs it to), and with enough time outs breaks and intermissions to allow for excessive advertising, and its aired in a time of the year when it is known that people will be inside (on a sunday in the middle of january when its freezing outside).
so cbs has a captive audience (other stations wont compete, ever, because its counter productive to take audience from the superbowl in case they ever air it... maximize the audience regardless of who has it... except nbc), and nbc gave up on major sports. why, cause they cost way too much money to keep. so they gave it up (that led to the xfl so maybe it isnt working out so great for them...) and pizza companies make half their sales during the superbowl (also number one day for spousal abuse... cause my team lost BITCH! slap slap)
but regardless... the ads for the superbowl just start to blur together. it comes down to, sex or animals (oh god let them NEVER combine the two). sexual innuendo, sexual situations, sexual references, sexual misfunctions, or horny talking monkey (actual commercial title) animals in funny situations. and that pretty much does it. (the ibm ali commercial was pretty damn good though.) so if i have to sit through commercials that pretty much sell beer and sex. and beer commercials gave us Whazzzup, the most annoying way for people to answer the phone in a long time, (personally im a fan of "County Morgue" followed by something like, takeout or delivery... dropoff or pickup... everybody is stiff... stiffs 24/7) and the Twins commercial (and honestly its the song that made that commercial, cause the idea is just a play on the doublemint commercials of years past) but otherwise... i couldnt care less. not like it matters really. and, even though im a guy i dont understand why people obssess so much and spend time learning players names, who got traded were, for how much, their stats, height, weight, origin, college attended, passing, rushing, pitching, recieving, blocks, kicks, etc etc etc.. and then reciting them whenever it comes up.
you know... you could almost build a case that im queerly in denial. you shouldnt, but you could. youd also be wrong, so whatever.
im off to bed so i can wake and learn more about dividends and future monies.
interesting interesting what you find late at night when looking for distractions after dealing with the oh so exciting world of accounting.
going through superbowl ads (caused i skipped the game for a reason i cover below), i came upon the CBS not airing spots by moveon.org, and censoring an ad by PETA. so i click and search and wrap my little brain around the idea that i must see these ads.
i spent more time viewing these, and thought they were better (ill explain why later) than the actual superbowl commercials. so go figure. think i might be in danger of growing up and being a mature adult... my inner child is drowning.
anyway, watch the damn videos.
as for the superbowl.
its a game catered specifically for television. everything about the game. shape of the field, plays, offense defense, all of it. realize that its the only game where the offense and defense move in straight lines against each other, only one pass is made so its easy to focus on who has the ball (and put as many cameras on him as possible), the field is easy to view from the ends, and the sidelines, lots of downtime to allow for commercials (either at the bottom of the screen or commentator spoken), rigorously timed (ends exactly when cbs needs it to), and with enough time outs breaks and intermissions to allow for excessive advertising, and its aired in a time of the year when it is known that people will be inside (on a sunday in the middle of january when its freezing outside).
so cbs has a captive audience (other stations wont compete, ever, because its counter productive to take audience from the superbowl in case they ever air it... maximize the audience regardless of who has it... except nbc), and nbc gave up on major sports. why, cause they cost way too much money to keep. so they gave it up (that led to the xfl so maybe it isnt working out so great for them...) and pizza companies make half their sales during the superbowl (also number one day for spousal abuse... cause my team lost BITCH! slap slap)
but regardless... the ads for the superbowl just start to blur together. it comes down to, sex or animals (oh god let them NEVER combine the two). sexual innuendo, sexual situations, sexual references, sexual misfunctions, or horny talking monkey (actual commercial title) animals in funny situations. and that pretty much does it. (the ibm ali commercial was pretty damn good though.) so if i have to sit through commercials that pretty much sell beer and sex. and beer commercials gave us Whazzzup, the most annoying way for people to answer the phone in a long time, (personally im a fan of "County Morgue" followed by something like, takeout or delivery... dropoff or pickup... everybody is stiff... stiffs 24/7) and the Twins commercial (and honestly its the song that made that commercial, cause the idea is just a play on the doublemint commercials of years past) but otherwise... i couldnt care less. not like it matters really. and, even though im a guy i dont understand why people obssess so much and spend time learning players names, who got traded were, for how much, their stats, height, weight, origin, college attended, passing, rushing, pitching, recieving, blocks, kicks, etc etc etc.. and then reciting them whenever it comes up.
you know... you could almost build a case that im queerly in denial. you shouldnt, but you could. youd also be wrong, so whatever.
im off to bed so i can wake and learn more about dividends and future monies.
5.2.04
i think (how nice).
interviews are a pain.
hows this for an interview question, what kind of animal would you be and why?
that sent my mind for a small loop.
5 people looking back at me for an answer. no pressure huh?
so many animals came to mind.
3 toed sloth... cause they are lazy (describes me pretty well) but bad for an interview.
zebra came next.... no reason.
horse? um... i had to pee like one.
koala... fuzzy but vicious... not what they wanted to hear im sure.
bunny... i look cute when i go hoppitty hop...
shark... im a killer? nope.
killer whale... again with the killing.
seal... im slippery?
bird... too cliche.
dog... im stupid and loyal but i drool and will hump your leg at awkward moments, not to mention that i need to be housetrained.
cat (shouldve said it)... independent. doesnt do anything unless it feels motivated, but then it does it well.
but no, i settled on...
ready?
penguin.
yup a penguin, and why a penguin... well i bullshitted like this.
penguins are efficient. they live on the ice, and walking on ice isnt very efficient. so they slide. and sliding is the way to go about things when living on ice.
yup. i hate interviews.
i feel fake when im in one. im not really like that. i say what i think you want to hear me say. so i lie out my ass (ie. speak shit.) to make myself be what you want. but then when i get the whatever, im not going to be like that. then ill be the same sarcastic little fucking bastard i have always been. but for 40 minutes i was as charismatic as i could be. still wish i could do the damn thing over again.
i hate interviews.
hows this for an interview question, what kind of animal would you be and why?
that sent my mind for a small loop.
5 people looking back at me for an answer. no pressure huh?
so many animals came to mind.
3 toed sloth... cause they are lazy (describes me pretty well) but bad for an interview.
zebra came next.... no reason.
horse? um... i had to pee like one.
koala... fuzzy but vicious... not what they wanted to hear im sure.
bunny... i look cute when i go hoppitty hop...
shark... im a killer? nope.
killer whale... again with the killing.
seal... im slippery?
bird... too cliche.
dog... im stupid and loyal but i drool and will hump your leg at awkward moments, not to mention that i need to be housetrained.
cat (shouldve said it)... independent. doesnt do anything unless it feels motivated, but then it does it well.
but no, i settled on...
ready?
penguin.
yup a penguin, and why a penguin... well i bullshitted like this.
penguins are efficient. they live on the ice, and walking on ice isnt very efficient. so they slide. and sliding is the way to go about things when living on ice.
yup. i hate interviews.
i feel fake when im in one. im not really like that. i say what i think you want to hear me say. so i lie out my ass (ie. speak shit.) to make myself be what you want. but then when i get the whatever, im not going to be like that. then ill be the same sarcastic little fucking bastard i have always been. but for 40 minutes i was as charismatic as i could be. still wish i could do the damn thing over again.
i hate interviews.
