7/31/2013: So…. vented shirts. Similar to leggings, I’ve yet to witness a body type that can wield the mono-colored cape carved from a perfectly good dress shirt. Assumedly designed to resemble a tent-flap or atrocious parachute pants, I’m also assuming it’s the temperature counter-balance for sweats which are the cloth expression of “I’m incapable of giving fucks.” I wonder if manufacturers get that breathable cloth solves the woes of preparing one for public scrutiny, whilst simultaneously keeping them cool?

7/30/2013: Popeye is the least entertaining cartoon ever. Where else would an ass-faced, ham-fisted genetic malformity advocate a single serving of spinach to solve his problems through brute force? Our mumbling hero rediscovers the same bloated villain each episode and trades fisticuffs over the disingenuous prima-donna Stick of a love interest whom perpetuates rivalry, mostly because no other flaky drag-queen exists in this world populated by a limited number of unequivocally inept characters.

7/29/2013: The fall of Detroit is a microcosm for how the loss of production facilities can affect an economy. In a way, I’m glad we have it as an example but we can’t fix all issues by throwing money at them, the moment for a bailout having passed. In order to bounce back, the depopulated city may have to re-envision itself, one proposal even suggesting the conversion of unused space into farmland. Will we return to our agrarian foundation before rebooting the Industrial Revolution, or will it just be Revolution?

7/28/2013: Summer. San Antonio. Daily temperatures top 100 degrees and higher (a dry heat)…. Of COURSE I’d need a god damn pleather jacket! Why WOULDN’T I whenever my workplace environment can disappear a set of testicals upon entry?! With the assuring falseness of a street merchant, the thermostat lies past a gold tooth, morally unfettered that it trumps up the number from its actuality existing between 65 and “popsicle”. And they won’t change it for nothin’: not rain, not winter. Fuck this shit.

7/27/2013: Stereotypes are generally closed-minded characterizations of sometimes-complex people, but many are rooted in truth. Being PC gets you only so far before life experience butts in: “Hey, I’ve found that this particular race IS pretty good at sports.” or “Personal history notices that crime rate statistics align with impoverished minorities.” “My instinct says he fits a crackhead’s description…. better stay on guard.” My critique on stereotypes, however, is that people rarely re-evaluate them or make exceptions.

7/26/2013: I used to think that tech support was solely composed of cantankerous drama queens that thumbed their noses at honest people who weren’t privy to obscure facts featuring decimal points. While that image remains mostly intact, there’s also a revelation that techs are a crotchety beacon for fuckin’ morons. While normals might be too embarrassed to call, opting to poke buttons on a stylistically ergonomic interface until they discern an indirect path to their goal, many morons do/are neither.

7/25/2013: Imagine my surprise in switching on a documentary and seeing an ex-girlfriend’s sociopathic collectiveness staring down a federal court regarding the allegations of her 3rd time being “drugged and raped”, a media circus erupting around the corporately-endorsed gang-bang. This sort of case informs me that the big guy in “David and Goliath” stories isn’t always the villain. Compulsive liars can act with no discernible reason, convincing themselves firstly and drawing public attention second.

7/24/2013: It’s never adequately explained how the Game of Thrones’ world can survive decades of intense snowstorms. I mean, that was the whole premise that got me interested in the first place…. all “winter is coming”, and stuff. Everyone is too tied up in political/familial intrigue to mention that the Starks and Co. will be receiving the majority of their grain/foodstuffs abroad. Exactly how unpredictable is this planetary rotation and why is it not mentioned that 10 years of any season could be equally disastrous?

7/23/2013: On the flip side, it’s arguable that we aren’t getting dumber, just statistically surpassed by emerging countries not burdened by egos and outsourcing. Knowing how to look up info can be as important as knowing it outright, and although a choice few get highlighted as failures of the system, the “informational age” has to rub off on a era somehow…. Then again, an under-prepared youth will still fail in a global competition, the results being similar to them being straight idiots. America needs help, and quick.

7/22/2013: Watched Idiocracy today, a Luke Wilson gem produced by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead infamy. In it, a dystopian future can be underscored by a mile-wide Costco, is brimming with trash, and is super-saturated with barely-coherent life as defined by a Mountain Dew commercial. Since idiots breed quickly, the idea exists that we’ve negated an evolution that lauds intelligence, thus resulting in ever-“dumbening” generations who can’t spell, speak, or run a country. I believe it could happen.

7/21/2013: Phones STILL just talk to friends and take pictures of food, right? The length at which consumers toil and the watermark achieved by bragging is enough to keep this economy afloat, apparently. For a premium, the latest cell plan allows users to trade in every 6 months, and its commercials depict mass wastefulness as actors casually destroy their new hardware as an excuse to pay top dollar for re-releases of zombied products. Instead, people should just draw a bigger number on their phone. Same thing.

7/20/2013: The “Half-Ton Killer” on YouTube…. can’t unsee. Those droopy petals of swollen, weeping flesh compose a multi-assed monstrosity. Her scabs of crusted density can’t be forgotten, nor can the sound of her diminuitive husband flipping her perpendicular to scour a day’s worth of layered barnacles and excretions from the indiscernible folds. I respect this sideshow even less than she does herself. “Glandular disorders” don’t force people to sit one last final time only to snarf down 5 cakes daily.

7/19/2013: We DO still live in the Digital Age, correct? As in, we didn’t backslide into a dark era where crucial info is kept in disintegratable form? I am floored at the continued discovery that gun ownership, medical records, and literal tons of paperwork are put into large storage rooms of accordion folders. You can’t CTRL+F a rolodex, and people don’t back up paper…. And then there’s Prism. Such tech disparity in a single institution! People even claim ignorance on drop-down boxes, as if data entry was hard.

7/18/2013: Johnny Depp plays Tonto in the Lone Ranger movie? Let me stop you right there. Despite not having the facial structure, mannerisms, or…. ethnicity for the part, how would his pasty skin get around this embarrassing miscast? Full-on facepaint, I guess. I profess waning interest in this DOA resurrection even prior to Disney revealing that their semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic superpowers couldn’t conjure a single indian actor, now I’m just insulted. Depp can keep the role (Tonto literally means “stupid” btw).

7/17/2013: The specific numbers are debated, but the greenhouse gas generated by cow burps/farts (Methane) are a contender with automobiles which release roughly 2.5 times as much volume in the form of Carbon Dioxide. Since there are 1.5 billion cows and over 500 million cars in our world, cows seemingly edge out the total by a small percent. The difference is, methane is actually a commodity and it has been proposed that we start trapping the emissions and putting them to good use. Intriguingly bizarre.

7/16/2013: Surprisingly, attitude has a bit to do with healing. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the mind/body dichotomy is integrated seamlessly in terms of trigger and response. And I’m not talking placebos. In addition to stress being generally bad for you, it’s been proposed that a person’s outlook can potentially suppress B and T cells in an immune system. Attitudes can be a pattern, a crutch, but your body also becomes comfortable in feeling a certain way and to familiar neurochemicals. It’s all connected.

7/15/2013: The logical construction of Artificial Intelligence points us towards the smartest, fastest machines available. The logical implementation of AI is towards military service, since many of us don’t want to be killed in action. The current usage of AI is through interpreting human speech, investing in the stock market, dispensing our food, and in just simply monitoring other humans’ activities. We’re all doomed.

7/14/2013: Interestingly enough, the US/Canadian border isn’t as physically straight as the arbitrary 49th parallel on maps would suggest. Before the advent of GPS, survey teams cleared some 4000 miles (Alaska too) of actual treeline, gouging a physical scar across the rugged landscape. Naturally, the “line” ended up being an 800 piece zig-zag that is viewable even from Google Earth. Check it out.

7/13/2013: Climate change is still being “debated” by citizens while the scientific community has near-unanimously closed the argument, concluding that global efforts are undeniably dire. For those still needing proof, “Chasing Ice” is a nice little Netflix documentary that provides time-lapse evidence of declining glaciers, which have been referred to as the world’s “canary in the coal mine”. Whether or not humanity is the cause, can we not agree that reckless CO2 emissions are exacerbating our situation?

7/12/2013: I wonder what happened to the WWJD? craze worn on teenagers’ wrists throughout the late ’90s. (I’m all for that line of thinking if we must coexist with religious fundamentalists.) In its stead we’ve got guns, gin, giant trucks, and an inflated pride of our nation…. things I don’t imagine the “Big J” signing off on. The church continues to adapt to constituency’s whims on sexuality and scientific fact, which clearly indicates that the institute is (or has been) shamelessly wrong and a timeless popularity contest.

7/11/2013: I’m not sure why everyone insists on motion activation and touchscreens. Nearly all public screens (like at the grocery store, museum displays, and certain vending machines) perform like ass, proving far inferior to normal buttons. Personal devices respond better but they tend to be tiny, negating the quality without a stylus. Motion activation has been implemented into faucets and towel dispensers, but I’m here flapping my arms to get its attention when simply pulling on the paper is just as good.

7/10/2013: Winston Rowntree on Cracked has a great point: If Batman took the billions he wastes on one-man outfitting, R & D, and efforts to maintain his secret identity and redirected it towards social engineering, the city would likely “heal” on its own. Fear may keep SOME criminals at bay, but is that really our solution? Additionally: blow Arkham Asylum to the moon! At this point, Bats is just trying to perpetuate his super-hero biz…. since a villain-less Gotham wouldn’t need a Crusader to pose on top of buildings.

7/9/2013: Since Joe Everyman (last in a proud line of Everymen) has both a camera and net access at all times, the News industry is at risk. To survive, they should focus less on speed and more on their strengths, using their trusty fact-checking record, breadth, depth, and un-biased delivery to convey relevance. Conversely, seeing flustered reporters descending like ravenous dogs on scraps gleaned during high-profile trials (only to retract the misinformation) is entertaining for the wrong reasons.

7/8/2013: We live in an age where digital publishings can cost [the user] as much [or more] than a physical book, despite distribution and production dollars being almost non-existant. What’s more, eReaders and iPads can run up to double the carbon footprint, contrary to ideas that “going digital” will save the planet. (Servers, PCs, and devices use electricity to make a document available.) Personally, I’d rather own a tactile/inexpensive story I won’t worry about damaging and can even loan out.

7/7/2013: EVE online ate my soul. We were just sitting there minding our own business and this bully EVE walks up and is like all, “Gimme your money!”. My soul replied, “No”, in a calm but firm voice. My soul was then gobbled up in an instant, despite protestation, EVE licking its chops afterwards. I’m trying to resist though it seems I’ll buckle and drop dollars on a game that I’ll never own, if only to reacquire what I’ve lost.

7/6/2013: Justin Carter posted some alarming “sarcasm” about killing children, was jailed, and then beaten several times before being put into solitary confinement. Without seeing conversational context I agree that he needs to be professionally evaluated, but what I don’t agree with is the prison system. PRIOR to conviction, people are routinely punished through violence/isolation, making for unbearable years of physical and psychological abuse that will haunt them forever…. even if found innocent.

7/5/2013: First off, I loathe every office’s resident “food thief”. So when I continue to read stories of why fighting back can land a victim in hot water, I get pretty frustrated. Evidenced by true tales of burglars/muggers suing their target, we empower our criminals too much. Now I’m not suggesting that making a sandwich with tainted meat or grinding up ex-lax into a home-made pasta is the way to go (or AM I?), but apparently you can even get sued for putting a camera behind your own closed door.

7/4/2013: Prodded by an XKCD comic, I realized that NASA and similar ventures satiate their burning curiosity at the expense of “not solving Earth problems”, the funds being better-suited for feeding people or whatnot. True, because of their exploits we have scratch resistant lenses, memory foam, and apparently water filters but one can’t help but feel that the geniuses are challenging Themselves instead of helping Us. And I’m…. completely okay with that. Gotta spend your life doin’ Something.

7/3/2013: The terms “sir” and “ma’am” aren’t used out of respect anymore but rather a derisive condescension, a convenient failsafe to rub stank on an impossible situation. Always substitute politeness for would-be outbursts of “bitchface” or “guzzle-fuck”, and not scream at the customer who’s being a “shunted prick-lick”. Trust me, I professional.

7/2/2013: “Chickity China, the Chinese chicken.” I took a stab at song lyrics a couple decades back, but soon realized I wasn’t cut out for abstract nonsense which may [or not] have underlying symbolism. Poetry too. I’m just too direct and incable of “flowering” it up. Since I don’t even fully appreciate philosopher/activist/musicians like Henry Rollins whom sing their mind, it seems safe to perish the musings. Metalocalypse is a rare breed of humor and comprehension…. behind the gutturals, of course. I dig it.

7/1/2013: Given our outreaching technologies, are we more “practiced” at communication than a hundred years ago, or have we bludgeoned the finer points through chatrooms and faceless calls? On the whole, I think people are improving, even learning to express themselves differently. Body language has become less important, but in its place rushes memes, art, and shared outlooks which directly invoke feelings. I still shudder at a restaurant table of texters though.