News, and commentary

Mar 28, 2007

Iteration 28 March 2007: Talking Points

1. Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy — for middle-class and upper middle class people, this seems to be the case. All of our lives, we were taught: work to consume, consume to be idle. Problem being: what's the point? Utter idleness is not all it's cracked up to be (though longer periods of non-busyness certainly wouldn't be unappreciated). When do we stop consuming? Our economy is constantly coming up with one more service, one more product, that we as individuals Absolutely Must Have. Never mind Oprah's latest guru hardsell: the secret is balance. Each individual needs to define, then achieve, balance. (And much like religion, one person's balance ill fits another's life. People can draw inspiration from others, but in order to truly be content and fulfilled, people need to take charge of defining their own version of 'balance'.)
2. Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage — Interesting to note. To me, as a consumer, the high gas mileage on the Prius is very attractive. I'm not so sure it's attractive enough for me to pay the huge price for the Prius, though demand seems to have slackened a bit (at least locally). It's also interesting to note: people who want to 'buy green' need to think about the entire lifecycle of the product, not just their use (and disposal) thereof.
3. Washington governor signs Internet tax bill — something important to note, particularly since I'm planning to move to that state. How, though, will this be enforced? Some retailers will collect the tax, others won't. California currently has a space where residents can state how much they bought online in the preceeding year, and voluntarily pay the tax on that. I know how often I fill that out. I think that Washington's initiative is headed for a similar fate: haphazard enforcement, amounting to a greater burden on small businesses than a benefit, and ultimately a questionable value for the state. (Which reminds me: I need to start researching that state's laws for small businesses...)
4. Many Americans See Little Point To Web — Well, sure. It's a tool. While some of us have quite the digital lifestyle, it's not a requirement. It's perfectly possible to survive and even thrive without doing much more than checking email occasionally (and I almost typed that sentence without a nervous twitch...almost.) But despite what certain persons would have us believe, it's not essential for everyone to have a blog. It's not essential for everyone to have a MySpace page. The web offers as many utter distractions as it offers useful tools — and humans are tool users. But just like I'm not going to invest in a jig saw any time soon, not everyone needs their own web site. (This is why I didn't do well trying to market my design services: when someone told me that they didn't need a web site, I took them at their word and stopped pestering. Sadly, this just didn't translate into enough income to support myself. Meh.)
5. National debt is a gigantic time bomb — In a way, this is tied to the first article linked in this week's list. When does a country have enough? When does it need to get more of whatever-it-is, when does it need to start planning for alternatives to whatever-it-is, how does it go about getting more of whatever-it-is, and what costs will the country pay in pursuit of its own balance? I'm heartily glad that I have no children. They, and their children, could be very hard hit if the US doesn't find a smarter way to work in the Middle East.
6. McCain comes out for gay marriage on MySpace — More proof that idiots are everywhere, and MySpace is their latest prime watering hole...a US presidential hopeful's eager (but not 100% tech-savvy) staffers create a MySpace page and hotlink to another person's images. So the owner swapped the image on their server. (Not with something quite as bad as that...then again, a conservative politico having an image say that they've reversed their position on gay marriage, particularly between passionate females...probably isn't at all good in Sen. McCain's view.) McCain's staffers scrambled to fix their mistake. But shouldn't they have not made that mistake in the first place?!??
7. Organic Food: the farmer's condundrum — People are all atwitch for green, natural, organic...but if your "organic" vegetables are imported from Mexico, South America, or China (with all the travel and gasoline that entails) how much is being preserved by buying 'organic'? Don't just buy organic because you think that you're doing good. Stop, think, find out the core thoughts behind a movement, and then live by those core thoughts and beliefs in the way you deem best rather than they way they're advertised or labelled.
8. San Francisco to ban plastic bags — I remember when I was younger, and the huge debates over 'paper or plastic' started. They died out to some extent...but now they're back again. People say use plastic, not paper, because the paper uses up trees and the lumber industry is so destructive. Yes, that's true. It's equally true that folks carrying canvas bags into, say, grocery shops get the hairy eyeball because they're suspected of stealing. (I know. It's happened to me a few times. I sympathize with the store owners and managers; but I've got to carry my stuff somehow.) It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Just one question...what will I use when I need to empty the catbox? It's not as easy to tie-close a paper sack...
9. Taking the week off — “It’s this culture of attacking women that has especially got to stop. I really don’t care if you attack me. I take those attacks in stride. But, whenever I post a video of a female technologist there invariably are snide remarks about body parts and other things that simply wouldn’t happen if the interviewee were a man.” There are limits people should follow. At what point do others need to step in and rap people on the knuckles? While lawmakers wrangle over Bong Hits 4 Jesus, women in the US, Canada, western Europe (all ostensibly first-world countries, by the way) are objectified by people who, if challenged, would claim that they were just joking. Yo. Idjits. Rape and death are not jokes.
10. New drive afoot to pass the Equal Rights Amendment — I haven't read the full text of the ERA. But shouldn't all people be given the same rights? And if they aren't, why not? (Oh. Right. People are fragmented, fearful, tribal zipperheads.) The law contains the following words: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. This really isn't enough, because it doesn't strictly, explicitly cover all religions, all ages, all ethnicities...but, suckily, we have to advance in baby steps. Because people are fragmented, fearful, tribal zipperheads.
    
    And last but not least: two points to think about. Common enough wisdom, but we forget them all the time.
11. Being responsible isn't easy.
12. If you want things to change, you have to learn, get up, and do something.

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