Monthly Archives: November 2011

Big Bessie Rowboat Blues: A Short Short Story

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I was floatin’ down the muddy river in my old row-boat starin’ at my ugly ass wife Big Bessie. For 30 years all she does is give me the stink and the scowl like a scorned bull frog. I sat at the bottom of my whiskey glass in that old ass row-boat cryin’, “I’m fixin’ to die, I’m fixin’ to die, and I can’t be satisfied… why oh why am I going to die in this old ass row-boat of mine.”

Big Bessie looked in my eyes and said, “You’ll be dead faster than a skeeter if you haven’t bought me that dress and wine”.

“Bess, I don’t have your dress, I don’t have your wine, why do you see dollar signs? Stop askin’ me to buy you what I cannot afford, we live in a trailer on a muddy shore, and all I own is this nasty ass row-boat of yours.”

“Damnit Little Willie, you good for nothing hick, I’ve had it with your bullshit, I’ll beat you in this fuckin’ crick.”

So Big Bessie lunged at me with that nonstop scowl she wore. Her toothless whiskey breath choked me as she choked me, all 300 pounds. We wrestled and jostled until I pulled out my 40 and shot Big Bessie right in the head. Blood and brains were everywhere, sloshin’ around this damn rowboat of mine. And for the first time in those last 30 years I finally felt fine.

I rowed my way back to the shore with this big fat grin a gleamin’. Big Bessie rollin’ about in the base of the boat completely sap of scowl. For now I’m free of her tyranny and livin’ life as happy as can be as the cops pull in on me.

They threw me to the ground handcuffin’ my wrists yelling all sorts of vulgar and piss. Lookin’ out the back window I was wheeled away with nothing less than a smile to say…

James Webb Space Telescope Finally Gets Funding Approval

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Today, 17 November 2011, the House of Representatives and the Senate finally agreed upon full funding approval for the James Webb Space Telescope. The requested amounted of funds for “Hubble 2.0″ was given to in full. A set $549.6 million for the first year (2012) of project operation with a cap set to $8 billion. The estimated cost through completion of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is around $8.7 billion, which is over the course of 6 years with a launch at some point in the year 2018.

James Webb Space Telescope

Why might you ask is this significant? Because unless we want to ensure our place in the world as science, technology and space leaders, we actually need to get our act in gear and fund projects like this. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, “Why are we meddling around up there when we have things on Earth to worry about?” That is a completely fair question, until you look and see that when we “meddle around up there”, you realize things that significantly help us down here. First off, the JWST costs the same as 4 B2 bombers. The Al Qaeda spent half a million to become the arbiter of terror for America and yet it cost us $3.3 trillion in response… which is $7 million dollars for ever dollar Al Qaeda spent. Then you realize that $3.3 trillion is one fifth of the national debt. In the picture below you will see what represents $3.3 trillion, the JWST will cost just 8 of those little cubes… and the research we gain from it will help humanity so long as we exist on this planet, or the next.

$3.3 Trillion in this image, 1 small cube equals $1 billion

Here are some of the things we have in our lives simply by the fact we do research in space: microwave oven,  MRI machine (magnetic resonance imagery), CAT scanner, robotics now used in nearly all factories, artificial or assisted limbs, GPS, any cellular device, weather forecasting, scratch resistant lenses, freeze-dried food, athletic shoes, cordless power tools, LEDs, any infrared technology, heart assisting devices, aircraft anti-icing technology, highways, radial tires, chemical detection (ex.C-O and smoke  detectors), fire resistant technology, firefighting equipment, temper foam, water purification, solar energy, structural analysis software, powdered lubricants, food safety, barcodes, quartz clocks, Velcro, Teflon… and much much more.

I want you to divert back to that list above and tell yourself what of it you DON’T use in a single day of your life. Everything on that list was developed straight out of NASA and its affiliates. Even if it were just the MRI and CAT scanner on that list, the space program would still be worth it. Those devices alone have saved millions of lives that otherwise wouldn’t have been saved if it weren’t for space exploration. Think of what you would do without a microwave. Entire aisles at the grocery store would be gone completely, your method of cooking would be totally different and take longer. The design of every highway in America (and much of the world), is a direct spin-off of runway design to allow for safe landing of the space shuttle.

Most of these developments were not the planned outcome of our space exploration. That’s not how science works. The path that is taken to achieve great things is what leads to technology we never would have dreamed possible or applicable. You could argue the Apollo program alone brought us center stage in the world, not exclusively by the end result, but mainly by the ridiculous amounts of new technology we gained just by striving towards the moon.

Mirror size comparison of Hubble and James Webb

What can the James Webb Space Telescope do? I’ll give you some info. It is considered an infrared telescope. It is significantly larger, further away from Earth and very specialized… which means its resolution and sensitivity to light is absolutely incredible. It will see 10 times further than Hubble and 100 times more resolute. That is un-frickin-believable.

Notice how much further away the JWST orbits when compared to Hubble.

The JWST is capable of a very wide area of research but its primary goal is to observe the most distant objects in the universe, specifically what the universe looked like at the time of the big bang. How is this possible? Because it takes light time to travel to Earth, so if we look out to the edge of the universe 13.5 billion light years away, we will see what happened 13.5 billion years ago… which is roughly when the big bang took place. It will see the first galaxies that began forming in the universe, it will see the very first stars, the dispersion of energy, it will watch the first planets forming, black holes, and many more things.

The outcomes of a project like this can never in a million years be predicted. If they could, then there would be no need to go further with the project. Supporting space exploration is un-fathomably powerful in aiding the well-being of our lives here on Earth. Not only do we gain an understanding of the universe in which we live but it pushes our developments and expands the capabilities of the human race. The House and Senate’s acceptance to fund the James Webb Space Telescope is a small triumph that we all should embrace. The next step we need to push for is lunar bases and manned Mars missions. It might even be what is needed to push us out of bad economic times… it’s happened before, so it can happen again.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/08/us/sept-11-reckoning/cost-graphic.html

http://blogs.citypaper.com/index.php/2011/11/full-funding-secured-for-james-webb-space-telescope/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope

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New Book, Preacher Boy: About A Liberty University Student Turning Back On Creationism

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A new book was recently published in both paperback and Kindle that’ll sure get people’s heads to turn. The author and I have been in contact over the last couple months through WordPress and this surely will be an interesting story to read. It is written in an effort to come across as a creationist’s point of view… as that is what Tim was for quite a long time. I think it will be interestingly insightful for both creationists and non-creationists. Read what the Amazon description has to say.

Meet Tim. A homeschooler from rural Virginia, Tim dreams of attending Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University and becoming a pastor of his very own Church. Indoctrinated in fundamentalist Baptist theology from toddlerhood, Tim is uniquely gifted to succeed in his pastoral training. After some close encounters with gay activists,Jerry Falwell, napalm explosives, the FBI, ATF, Police, nudist missionaries, alcoholic alums, sword wielding Muslim roommates and death threats from a Kenyan Muslim…Tim got quite the Liberty Experience. Tim, the preacher boy, took those things in stride but when he was challenged to read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins his life and faith would never be the same.

Those of you who don’t know about Liberty University, it is probably the most hardcore religious “education” you can get. Their institution contains dinosaur bones and fossils with plaques that read ’6,000 years old’… when science tells us they are at least 65 million years old. Tim is somebody who went there in hopes of becoming a preacher, and left the complete opposite. I just purchased the paperback version and look forward to reading it and I suggest anyone else whom is curious should do the same. You can Twitter him @Tim29Short

Kindle

Paperback

Preacher Boy, by Timothy Michael Short

Striving Towards Admiration

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Admiration is something that we all want on ourselves whether we admit it or not. We want to be admired by our family, admired by our friends, admired by our community and most importantly admired by a significant other. You all know what I’m talking about. You want your efforts to be recognized and you want to be liked by the people around you. I bet you there are those people in your life that you almost hold up on a pedestal. These people might not be heroes to you but you marvel at how “real” and lively they are. You admire them.

Admiration does not always mean they have many friends nor does it mean they always are doing the right thing. Although, the more admirable you become, the greater people will think of you, and the more respect you will receive. I cannot say that I am an admirable person, though, I know what it takes to become admirable and I strive for it every day of my life knowing that someday someone will recognize this and reciprocate.

These people are confident. You need confidence in everything you do, no matter what. Only confident people are taken seriously and only confident people are admired. Whether it be your friendships, family or loved one, every decision you make is your decision and you better act on it. If it’s a bad decision, so what, you made a decision and that’s what matters. Admirable people are confident and direct. I hate it when someone isn’t direct and/or beats around the bush, it kills me inside. Sometimes I can be brutally honest, I say what I mean and I mean what I say. It’s the quickest way to get on with life.

Hands down the most important is honesty. Why? Because people who are dishonest get their ass chewed out later in their life and any form of admiration built up is now completely and utterly gone. A lie is a lie, whether it’s white or not. But it goes deeper than just that. Remember above I said something about reciprocation? Well, when you meet someone whom you potentially could fall for, you know it’s right when your openness and honesty is reciprocated by said person. This is the whole trust thing. In my eyes, the only people whom are most admired are those that are like an encyclopedia. Someone could open up this encyclopedia and I would give them any information about me they happen to come across without hesitation. If you have a diverse encyclopedia, then there is always something new and almost unexpected no matter the page this person flips to. People who hide pages of this encyclopedia from those closest to them are not admirable. And people who don’t have a diverse and unpredictable encyclopedia just aren’t expanding the horizons of their life enough. There is no such thing as a perfect person but there is such thing as a wholly open and honest one, and those are the ones worth keeping around.

Being admired requires a purpose. Your purpose is set by yourself. You, and you alone. Nobody tells you your purpose. If your purpose is “To serve God”, good… but that is his purpose. If you were to brand yourself, what would “brand (name here)” be? Admirable people have a cause or a lifestyle and they don’t stray from it. To go along with your “brand”, you should learn to live saintly. Follow your own path and don’t listen to others. Admirable people use their own brain and are not prone to influence. They are logical, rational, live simply and educate themselves. You’re just a pawn if you grab hold of cultural fad or ideology. Admirable people are above that and will stand to defend their being.

I believe one of the most necessary but overlooked traits of an admirable person is vulnerability. Admirable people aren’t afraid to show their weak spots. They know what they are good at but most importantly they know what they are bad at. Others see this vulnerability because said person is open about it, but the same time he is improving upon the vulnerable areas. Being honestly vulnerable shows the people in your life that you are a real human being… think abandoned puppy… you want to do good for them where you can because you already know they are good.

This was a very spur of the moment post, it’s based off recent observations and how I live my life… just remember to have a purpose, be unpredictable, live saintly, be open and honest, be vulnerable, and be confident. If you liked this, feel free to share or subscribe.

The Word “Blog”, I Hate It

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Blog. Doesn’t it just sound gross? It sounds like an old fat man wallowing in a pond… no offense to old fat men, of course. I am not a “blogger”, and no I do not “blog”. I have a website hosted by a business called WordPress and within the website I write articles for the purpose of entertainment and/or education. When I hear the word “blog”, 1 of 3 things comes to mind. I either picture a pre-pubescent teen writing a daily journal about the most trivial “1st-world-problems” such as a teacher not allowing the chewing of gum in class. Or I picture a college liberal arts major documenting their study abroad travels to all the typical tourist locations, like the Eiffel Tower, the Vatican, the Tower of Pisa, Munich and Amsterdam. Or lastly, I picture a recently wedded couple who posts billions of photos of their marriage and/or their newborn baby.

The word sounds amateurish… although, what I am doing is amateur. As in, not a profession. But if you have the mentality that what you are doing isn’t amateur and you take your work professionally, then your writing becomes infinitely better, more well read and respected. I hate the word “blog”.

Not too long ago a friend found out I had a webpage and their immediate reply was, “oh, I didn’t know you had a blog!” I told them, “I wouldn’t call myself a blogger”… “Well why not? Isn’t that what this is?”… “Blogging is when you don’t take your writings seriously, I take my writings seriously”. Personally, I don’t care as much about my website as others do, but everything I write, I write with full and complete honesty with the utmost attention to content quality.

This might turn out to be the shortest “blog” I have ever written… just remember, when you write, whatever you write, be honest and professional and don’t use the word “blog”.

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How Disconnected From Reality Are You? Take The TV Challenge

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About a week ago I was driving back to my place from work, it was dark out. When I came upon a stop sign that had a left turn lane, and a straight lane, I noticed a vehicle that had an interesting glow coming from within. This small Volkswagen SUV was pulling up to the left turn lane when I came along side it and noticed a 20-some-inch flat screen TV spanning from the back of the driver’s seat to the back seat of the navigator’s seat.  The TV was playing some kind of kid’s movie to 2 children seated in the back seat. Both the mother and father were sitting in the front 2 seats. I’m not sure where they were going at 9pm on a weekday but it appeared to be the whole family.

The moment I saw this I had a near face-palm moment. I couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t even leave a big screen TV for 10 minutes. I have seen TVs in cars before, hell, we had one in our large travel van… but we only used on our 22 hour drives to Florida about once a year and the TV was about 10 inches, not 28.

 

It seems to me that parents are beginning to utilize technology more and more as a method of quieting their kids. And this might seem all fine and dandy but it is a huge problem, beyond measure. Children learn by asking questions about the world around them and the things they experience. The more questions they ask, and the more you answer, the more “connected” to the world they become. They become logical and rational, intelligible as well as articulate. Children are becoming disconnected, thus, separating themselves from the world in which they reside.

Before I was in college I saw it in children I was babysitting, and I did my best to combat it. I would go to a house where I was scheduled to babysit and the parents would tell me just to pop in a movie and they would be fine… and once it was over I was to put the kids to bed. Well, I rarely ever actually put a movie in… I would sit and talk with the kids. Maybe play a few children’s games, but we were always talking. I would teach them things that would fascinate them. I would get them inspired to do things they didn’t even know existed. It got to the point where these kids only wanted me to babysit (even though parents typically had multiple babysitters in their Rolodex that they would cycle). For years on end these children would ask me to tell them “cool stuff” and they never wanted to play video games or watch a movie. I would teach them about space, how cars work, how your eyes work, the speed of light and time, interesting places in the world, how a curveball curves, rockets, and more. The kids were addicted to learning new and interesting things! And this is how it should be. I take pride in the fact that I contributed in opening the children’s minds to the world around them and hopefully shaped their future.

 

It’s not an uncommon sight. Kids (and adults) always walking around with a Gameboy or PSP, always walking around with headphones plugged in, always having the TV or radio on. This disconnect is so apparent you almost can’t go anywhere without seeing it. The hands down worst is cell phones. I get so disgusted and almost pissed off when I’m invited to an event by friends of mine and I get there and everyone has their phones out. Why the hell would you plan a social event when the only socializing you’re doing is via cellphone?!

The Challenge: I want to present a challenge to you. Something that I have successfully been doing for 7 straight months now. I want you to unplug ALL your TVs and put them in the closet. If they are too big or mounted in a funny way, I want you to take off the cable or power cord and hide them somewhere. Allow yourself the occasional Sunday football games but don’t ever (and I mean ever) plug it in for a TV show or for the news. Nearly all TV shows can be found online the day they air, and the only important news you will ever need to hear will get to you by other means. My TV has been hidden in a closet since May and I have found it opens up time and allows me to accomplish more. If you did this with children, they would very easily become more intelligible, more in shape, and have a higher level of common sense. And while you’re at it, get rid of the handheld gaming units.

Do this for 3 weeks and see what you think. And by 3 weeks, I mean do NOT stray during those 3 weeks. After 3 weeks you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to keep going with it.

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Asapiophobe, What Is It?

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I have noticed a lot of people have searched or asked about the definition of Asapiophobe. I find it rather hilarious because the [supposed] definition of this word is the fear of lack of intelligence and/or common sense among other people. The hilarious part is what comes next… this word is nowhere in the English Dictionary, nor is it on a list of official phobias. Almost seems unusual seeing how there are phobias out there for people who are afraid of El Caminos… yes, the car. But not one for a fear of lack of intelligence.

I think the purpose of this definition, by whomever created it, was to poke fun at the people who weren’t able to figure out it isn’t real and used it as if they themselves were that… in an effort to appear smarter.

On the flip-side, it seems like we need a word like Asapiophobe. Because while I might not literally have a fright of people whom lack intelligence, I do have a slight cynical side towards it and shake my head way too often at the thoughts and actions a lot of people have in our society. If you were to look up phobias, you wouldn’t find one in there for people who fear unintelligent people… but if we were to have such a word, it should be something along the lines of moronophobia or stupidophobia.

Here are some phobias that are similar, but not quite:

Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.

Agateophobia or Dimentophobia- Fear of insanity.

Anthropophobia- Fear of people or society.

Cenophobia or Centophobia- Fear of new things or ideas.

Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions.

Epistemophobia or Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge.

Panophobia or Pantophobia- Fear of everything.

Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.

Psychophobia- Fear of mind.

Soteriophobia – Fear of dependence on others.

This post was short and sweet, but hopefully it’ll help those silly ones out there who believe it really exists.

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Penn Jillette’s 10 Commandments For Atheists

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As some of you may have read, Glenn Beck asked Penn Jillette what sort of moral fabric do atheists have if they don’t believe in a god. He made a list of “10 commandments” that would be acceptable not only by non-believers but would comply with any other sane person in the world. He later went on to write a book on such a topic called “God, No!”.

Penn Jillette on Piers Morgan Tonight

Here are these 10 commandments.

1. The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.

2. Do not put things or even ideas above other human beings. (Let’s scream at each other about Kindle versus iPad, solar versus nuclear, Republican versus Libertarian, Garth Brooks versus Sun Ra— but when your house is on fire, I’ll be there to help.)

3. Say what you mean, even when talking to yourself. (What used to be an oath to (G)od is now quite simply respecting yourself.)

4. Put aside some time to rest and think. (If you’re religious, that might be the Sabbath; if you’re a Vegas magician, that’ll be the day with the lowest grosses.)

5. Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children. (Love is deeper than honor, and parents matter, but so do spouse and children.)

6. Respect and protect all human life. (Many believe that “Thou shalt not kill” only refers to people in the same tribe. I say it’s all human life.)

7. Keep your promises. (If you can’t be sexually exclusive to your spouse, don’t make that deal.)

8. Don’t steal. (This includes magic tricks and jokes — you know who you are!)

9. Don’t lie. (You know, unless you’re doing magic tricks and it’s part of your job. Does that make it OK for politicians, too?)

10. Don’t waste too much time wishing, hoping, and being envious; it’ll make you bugnutty.

Aside from being a magician, Penn Jillette is an outstanding thinker. I say thinker because he is highly logical, methodical, and is capable of great reasoning… actually might be why he is so damn good at magic. Watch this enlightening video that gets even believers inspired…

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7 Billion People and Counting; Is The World Too Top-Heavy?

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As of Monday, October 31st, the United Nations officially made its proclamation that Earth now contains 7 billion people. Now, let’s be real first before delving into the article, this number is based on a percent error of 2% because there is no way to accurately know the exact number of people in the world. So theoretically we could be off by as much as 60 million. But that is beside the point, if we haven’t hit the exact number yet, we’ll hit it in a month or so.

The real issue at hand is how this will impact the world and whether or not we have become too top-heavy to support ourselves. Obviously 7,000,000,000 is no different from 6,900,000,000 from about a year ago… but the mark of 7 billion people warrants a look into our population growth. For the most part, Earth’s human population remained constant for tens of thousands of years. At year 1 we were at a population of about 200 million people. 1,800 years later we hit 1 billion people. So it took 1,800 years for our population to grow 800 million people. Nowadays , it takes about 5 years to do the same thing! From the year 1800 until now, we have gone from 1 billion to 7 billion people and it doesn’t look like the rate is slowing one bit.

Human Population Growth

What is it that pushed the snowball down the slope? It had to be something around 400 years ago because population was largely constant up until that point. I’ll tell you what happened. Around the year 1620, Sir Francis Bacon published Novum Organum (New Method), which was what he believed should be the new method of understanding, knowledge, and science, that would replace the, then, 1700 year old Aristotle Method. If you notice on the growth chart presented above, you will see that right around the time his new method came about was the same time the population began its rather significant incline. Right around this time was also the first real great progression of science and medicine (largely in part to his new scientific method that is still used today). Though, rudimentary by today’s standards, the 17th century was just past the end of the dark ages and many new and great things were turning around… let me just list a few: The first refracting and reflecting telescope was invented, the slide-rule was invented, blood transfusions came about, steam turbine was invented, micrometer is invented, barometer is invented, first calculating machine invented, the first bacteria under a microscope were seen and described, among other things.

Sir Francis Bacon

Not only were these inventions massively triumphant in the science world but also around this time, travel and global communication was becoming more consistent. The world was being mapped and all corners of the globe were being traveled to on a regular basis. Knowledge was being exchanged, obviously significantly slower than today, but it was still consistent. All of this is what led to the dawn of the industrial revolution of all the major nations in the world… and when that happened, there was no stopping human growth. Those who normally would die in the world, were living. And those who normally weren’t able to support their family were now able to easily trade desired commodities.

This is all fine and dandy right? Not really. The reason is our expansion has grown past the point of our rate of developing new and better technologies. The lead-acid battery is [for the most part] the only way we store a charge and it has remained unchanged for 150 years. Other than nuclear, burning coal and gas has been around for longer, and we still primarily rely on coal for power. Whether you like it or not, these methods of energy consumption are not long-term solutions and the question we begin to ask ourselves is where will our population exceed Earth’s capable output? Don’t just say that we’ll soon develop technology to overcome it. You can’t predict the future, that’s a very dangerous thing to do because you don’t know if and when that technology will come about and you don’t know if and when the population will stop growing. And by the looks of it, it’s not going to anytime soon. In just 10 years we’re expected to be at 8 billion and in less than 20 we’re expected to be at 9 billion. This can’t go on forever.

Now for the real brain buster. What if we cure HIV/Aids, as well as cancer? Millions of people who would otherwise be dying would now be living, and those people you would now have to support as well. There’s only so much land to farm, so much coal and oil to mine, so much minerals to extract, only a certain rate at which to harvest trees. Don’t liken me for some leftist hippy because that is NOT what I am. What I am saying is that it is irrefutable that the current method of resource extraction and consumption will most definitely not support humans at the rate at which we are expanding, and that doesn’t even include the people who could be saved from a possible STD and cancer cure.

Am I saying we shouldn’t care about finding these cures or improving technology to the point that everyone on the planet has a fighting chance at a quality life? Not at all, we just need to make sure we improve our technology in other areas that make it easier to support such a population growth and to do it efficiently. Hopefully this will get you to think about how you consume, and what things are important in this world. I didn’t go into possible solutions for this problem, but I plan to at a later time.

Feel free to share or leave comment on what you think, there’s also a “contact” link above if you wish to talk to me directly.

 

Sources:

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/world/united-nations-reports-7-billion-humans-but-others-dont-count-on-it.html

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