Posted by Dominic
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:23:00 GMT
A friend of mine asked in response to this entry:
What is the media trying to make everybody afraid of?
Originally I was going to respond as a comment, but as I kept typing, I realised that it might just make a halfway decent blog entry.
So here goes - my take on a mostly volatile topic:
Fear is a very powerful emotion. Which means that if you can get someone to feel fear, you have their attention. This is the same concept exploited in horror movies.
So by causing a feeling of fear, perceived or real, the media has our attention. And that’s their job. To get your attention. And mine. This is what brings them money. They’re in the business of attracting attention.
I don’t know what agenda or motive they might have (beyond $$’s), but I don’t think it matters. What does matter to me, is that I am tired of the continual attempts to evoke this emotion from us, regardless of the reason behind it.
Sure, there’s legitimate times when fear is warranted - real news stories, etc. But the concept of an actual “war on terror” is a joke, if you ask me. Most actions end up being knee-jerk reactions designed to placate the public, or to show that “we are in control” somehow.
Shrug. I’ll stop now and get off my soapbox. :)
Posted in Soap Box | Tags fearmongering, media | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:44:00 GMT
On May 29, 1990, Donella Meadows published a text titled “State of the Village Report.”
The text starts off with “If the world were a village of 1000 people:….”
It takes you through a tale of how those 1000 people would be divided up, rich and poor, various nationalities, religion, political power, et cetera.
Ms. Meadows passed away in February of 2000, but her concept is still alive.
Sustainability Institute, through Donella’s Foundation. has released the third version (with updated figures) of her idea.
Posted in Soap Box | Tags peace, world | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:42:00 GMT
This posting is mostly for my friends who may or many not be internet-savvy enough to know how to look past all the fear mongering and hyperbole that’s been put out there by media regarding the recent network cable breaks overseas.
I will try to summarize the information that was presented here, here, here and here - if you want more in-depth, please to go those links. :)
In a nutshell: Last week two undersea cables were cut in the Mediterranean north of Egypt. Whether this was an accident or not is still to be determined. The affected cables were SEA-ME-WE-4 and FLAG Europe-Asia.
The countries hardest affected by these cable cuts were Egypt, Pakistan, India and Kuwait.
Iran, contrary to common belief, was not even in the 10 top affected countries, despite having lost approx. 20% of it’s connectivity.
Don’t get me wrong, losing 20% of a countries internet connectivity is bad - real bad - but nothing compared to the 90+ percent for Egypt and Pakistan.
An interesting point of note, is that many of the countries have managed to recover some of their lost connectivity - but they’re far from being out of the woods. And even if in the next week or so more of the connectivity is re-established, it won’t be until cable repairs are completed that the internet for those affected, will be back at full speed. (Currently, some of Europe is getting across the Mediterranean via the US and Asia….)
Posted in Meta-internet, Soap Box | Tags cable, cut, hulksmash, internet, outage, undersea | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:12:00 GMT
My friend Kim describes in intricate detail what it’s like to bake a “cake” in today’s corporate world.
It is well worth the read here.
Posted in Soap Box | Tags bakeacake, corporate, culture | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:48:00 GMT
I came across this article yesterday.
The article talks about a lady from Iceland, and her recent experience visiting the US.
It went fine enough until, upon going through Immigration, it was noticed that she had overstayed her visa on a visit in 1995. At this point her experience turned into something like a horror movie. She was detained, questioned, denied food for 14 hours, denied making any contact (Until they presented her with a phone that could make collect-only calls, but was unable to make international calls, heh), chained, cuffed, jailed overnight, etc.
It really makes you wonder what our society has come to, when for all intents of purpose innocent people, are treated like criminals.
Not that American society at large probably cares - after all, it won’t happen to US. No - we’ll go on and live our picture-perfect lives.
People sometimes ask me “If you dislike America so much, why do you stay here?” I dunno - I ask myself the same question every time I come across situations like this.
Posted in Soap Box | Tags fearmongering, immigration, society, stupidity | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:45:00 GMT
(If you are not comfortable discussing females wearing strings up their butt cracks, please refrain from reading any further.)
.
.
.
.
Dear thong-clad women of Austin,
I know that at least in some circumstances, wearing a thong can be appropriate…. At home with your husband (for the conservative) or your girlfriend (for the liberals).
I understand some women find them more comfortable, or aesthetically pleasing, or what have you not - what do I know? I either wear underwear, or I don’t.
However, going to the grocery store is generally not one of those moments… although, it is understandable - should you be on your way from your home, and need to stop by the grocery store, on your way to a late-night tryst - that you should find yourself in the store while wearing a thong.
Being as the logistics of perhaps going out, getting what you need, going home, changing, and then going to your tryst - are somewhat more complicated than necessary… I will grant you the allowance of wearing thongs to the grocery store.
However, thongs, in all their aesthetically pleasing-ness… Do NOT need to show two inches above the waist of your workout pants… I mean, really - would you want to see my underwear after a day of working construction in the sun? Hardly. Well, me neither.
Save for a few, any man can imagine the vile disgust that exists at the other end of that oh-so-thin piece of cloth. It’s more like a string, left to rot at the bottom of a sewer.
Well, so maybe not all thongs… But DAMN, some of you girls got some UGLY thong-action going on.
The End.
Posted in Soap Box | Tags fuglyness, thong | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Dominic
Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:10:00 GMT
I’m told half the world does exactly that.
On October 16 + 17, Stand up, Speak Out against poverty.
More information also here.
Posted in Soap Box | Tags out, poverty, speak, stand, up | 4 comments | no trackbacks
