When the public education system goes out of its way to indoctrinate our young children, promoting McDonald’s and Burger King in songs and ditties to Kindergartners, when junk food laden with sugar, produced by Beatrice under all its various labels is proliferated as healthy in school classrooms, hallways and cafeterias, promoted as good eating by teachers, one really must wonder. Where have I witnessed this from firsthand experience? A mom whose child was enrolled at Washington School, Sandpoint, Idaho, that child since removed from said school and placed into the Idaho Virtual Academy instead, which is proving itself first-rate as a good, solid education, and not promoting corporate interests and the dumbing down of our children that is now rampant throughout the public school system in the US.
Whether it is photograph of a model, an actor or actress, or a lawyer defending a high profile client, increasingly it is very difficult to tell if the person portrayed in the picture is real, a plastic model, or a cgi (a computer generated image).
This is NOT just due to cgi getting more life-like, but, rather of life becoming a mimic of cgi — the make-up, hair, and physique mimicking computer generated imaging. They’ve met in the middle, and that, for me, is very disturbing, not because of the inherent implications for fraud as much as because it sets up a very false standard for people as a role model for success.
A lot of it is due to lighting, but it also has to do with skin and bodies enhanced all over, not just the face, by make-up and surgery, well-coiffed and well-dyed hair, impeccable manicures and the like.
Check out these images and tell me which ones are real people, which are plastic, and which are CGI (computer generated):
Without cheating, even if you recognize them, which look REAL, PLASTIC, OR CGI?
Now, check your answers.
3, 5, and 10 are CGI.
All the rest are real EXCEPT #2 which is a plastic, life-sized clothes mannequin.
How did you do?
What do you think about this trend and its significance?
Dining with colleagues at a local establishment exposed us to the depth and breadth of local prejudice that is running rampant outside what I’ll term the PC zone. (Definition of a PC zone: All places where one must exhibit the trappings of tolerance and social propriety in order to maintain butter on one’s bread, else lose substantial income.)
We became victim to the proximity of lawyers and business owners who, thinking themselves somehow “off the record,” began to berate and spew hate-speak against anyone and everyone, from Native Americans to Germans, from Chinese to Irish, from English to Polish to Arab to African, and especially against blacks, homosexuals, and women. Obviously together even though they were spread over several tables, these bigots even grinned over at us who are a group of individuals who vary in skin color and sex. It seemed they knew they were being offensive and were totally enjoying themselves.
Then they began talking down anyone who wasn’t Christian. And, after that, came the vilifying of Catholics, Mormons, Christian Scientists, and other recognized Christian denominations who aren’t particularly well-thought-of by the more fundamental. This wasn’t particularly problematic for anyone at our table since most of us are either not affiliated with any religion whatsoever, or, if we are, we keep it to ourselves, well-used to this sort of biased speech.
However, we had, as a group, became very silent. What had been lively, vivacious conversation about progress in our various interests, organizations, and occupations became an embarrassed silence — embarrassment for them and their stupidity.
At the onset of all of this, one of the most locally prominent members of our group who had his back to the rest of the restaurant, glanced around, then pulled out a small box and placed it beside his plate. Lights danced. He then pulled out his cell phone and held it up before him as if it were a mirror. A flash went off.
He had a small, coy smile on his face as he tucked his cell phone away. We ate on in silence.
After awhile, the conversation around us lulled and dulled. Mr. Prominent switched off the box beside his plate, stuffed it into his suit coat pocket, and smiled around the table. “How about dessert?” he asked. Then, “By the way, did you know that, when it comes to recording conversations, we’re a one-party consent state?”
Ursine of the Times
U.S. study says two-thirds of polar bears will be gone by 2050
The U.S. Geological Survey released a grim study of polar bears on Friday, concluding that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will be gone by 2050. Polar bears in Alaska and other areas outside the very far north will be most out of luck, according to the study; it forecasts that precisely zero polar bears will be left in Alaska by 2050. “Sea ice conditions would have to be substantially better than even the most conservative computer simulations of warming and sea ice” for the bears to avoid the forecasted steep drop in population, the report said. For those desperately seeking an upside to all this, the survey team said the polar bears’ fate was likely only 84 percent linked to the extent of sea ice, which means the remaining bears will only theoretically be 84 percent screwed when all of it disappears from the Arctic. Phew! Meanwhile, for just $35,000 or so, kick-’em-while-they’re-down types can pay to go on polar-bear safari and bag a trophy kill. But hey, for an extra $100,000, we know a guy who can arrange a cage match with a polar bear and your own remote-controlled robot. Just let us know.
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Play It Again, Uncle Sam
Appeals court overturns ruling, allows Navy to test underwater sonar
It’s the controversy that keeps on controversing: The U.S. Navy wants to test underwater mid-frequency sonar. Marine advocates say such testing effs up whales and other marine mammals. Repeat. (Grist has been writing about this issue since 1999, and we have never reused a headline. Thank you.) Anyhoodle, here we go again: last month, a federal judge ordered the Navy to stop using mid-frequency sonar off the California coast through 2009; a federal appeals court has now put the kibosh on that decision. “The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales,” wrote Judge Andrew Kleinfeld. “But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries.” And we can’t be too careful — what if the whales are working for the terrorists?
*Laughing.* Over on the GreenPeace forum, I had Ms. MaryPoppins-mod, a clappy-handies, oh-isn’t-it-wonderful-see-what-we’re-doing-to-make-the-world-green neophyte, read me a new waste portal via the reputation comments (unanswerable, by the way, so there’s no chance for dialogue) and all because I dared point out some truths, and to counter with facts from my own lifestyle a snot-sayer I’ll call NeverRight who consistently has cursed me, called me everything but cunt, and who has never been reined in for castigating me. Funny. She called me “counter-productive,” amongst other more pointedly venomous things, blaming the tone of the forum on ”youth.” Um…no. Not youth. Some youth, but also some adult, some middle-aged, and some aged seem to be the demographics. This is all very interesting on a forum which is supposed to be “green,” run by one of the biggest, most “in the news” green organizations on the planet. This GreenPeace International forum called Louder Than Words, however, is anything BUT green. You can’t be green if only half of your active participants are colored that way and the other half are pro-whaling, pro-sealing, pro-development, anti-preservation, and doubt climate change.
So why am I laughing?
Because here we have people all arguing over whether the house is actually burning, and, even if it is, is this a bad thing while the house turns to ashes and its inhabitants die…all on a GREENPEACE forum!
Clap on, MaryPoppins and the rest of you, clap on. Hope you like turning into burnt marshmallows with the rest of the biosphere. Meanwhile, watch those damaged nerves. The pain you feel just might open up your minds.
ADD/EDIT: Got this from a friend over there a bit ago after I posted this: “The moderators really only want `fluffy bunny don`t rock the boat types`.”
Well, that’s NOT me. And, as far as I’ve seen, it ISN’T GreenPeace, either. Guess the mods must be employed by Chevron.
Same ol’ same ol’. No point. Silliness and waste of life as usual. But it did give me a sense that there are others out there beyond my own circle of acquaintance who also perceive from similar perspective. That’s refreshing.
Out of the blue…quite literally…sunshine and clear skies turned swiftly and suddenly to broiling storm. The squall line was a visible chaos, and the wind hit in gusts that were stronger than ones I remember ever experiencing during North Idaho’s summer season.
Trees bent double — big trees. Branches snapped. But, around me, anyway, the giants — some of them over a century old, stayed rooted and whole. Not so lucky the ones used forest surrounding them stood as solitary lone remnants of woods that had been. Lacking the protective buffering that trees in a group provide for one anther, they went down. And they took the power with them.
For four and a half hours, no-one in North Idaho had power. (Some on Pack River still don’t, I understand.) Street lights were off, the hospital and banks’ emergency generators kicked in, and we all waited…until well after dark.
My mother lives outside of town. She’s 84 years young and spry as a teen. Feisty too. But she lives in forest — big trees. I went out to check on her since she wasn’t answering her phone. To do that, I had to negotiate town, and Sandpoint is NOTORIOUS for asshole drivers.
To my amazement, everyone, and I mean even the teenage, testosterone-driven, souped up 4×4 truck-driving ones, were courteous and polite, each waiting their turn, and even letting others go first when it was clearly their turn at the intersection with its dusty, faded, very cobbled together four-way stop signs nailed to barrels. (Somebody was quick thinking make them and to set them out that fast — congrats all you public works employees.)
Not only that, but no traffic snarls. Traffic ran smoothly, without long delays. Wonderful for a town and county infamous for GRID LOCK.
It just goes to show, when things get nasty, people get nice. Thank you, everyone. Now, that’s American!
There is a leash law in Bonner County, Idaho. I believe there is also a separate leash law doubling Bonner County’s in both Sandpoint and Ponderay. Despite this, people blatantly let their dogs off leash, especially while walking them up and down the residential streets and alleys. While many of these dogs are pleasant, wonderful, well-socialized animals, many are not. Many are, in fact, dangerous to both humans and pets.
Aggressive dogs like Pitbulls, Pitbull crosses, and Rottweilers bite me without provocation. (German shepherds don’t for some reason.) I believe this behavior from natively aggressive dogs is because they dislike that I am what is classified as an alpha personality, even though I take care not to look them in the eye, not to approach them, not to acknowledge them. Regardless of the fact I am an alpha personality, I shouldn’t have to be in fear of being bitten, or, worse, dying, as a result of a dog attack. And I shouldn’t have to fear that my cat will wind up dead in the jaws of these dogs either.
Dog owners — pet owners in general — have an obligation and a responsibility to maintain complete control of their animals. They do not have a right to perpetrate fear or danger to other people and their pets. Yet there is this consistent disregard, flagrant disregard, in fact, for the safety and comfort of others.
When asked to leash their dogs, and even when their dogs threaten a person or their pet right before their eyes, these owners scoff, ridicule, or shrug. “Too bad, so sad.” Okay. So when you have lost your house, your boat, your cars, your bank account because your dog attacked me without provocation in my own back yard or on the street, “Too bad, so sad,” right?
If your dog is aggressive, for everybody’s sake, LEASH IT. And keep it well under control at all times. Muzzle your dog when out in public if it is a biter or dangerous to other’s pets. Neither I nor my pets want to suffer the consequences of your flagrant disregard for the law, nor your blatant disregard for the health, welfare, and safety of others and those creatures precious to them…or any creature for that matter, never mind the sanctity of one’s property. (My plants, tires, fence posts, car paint, do not need digging, scratching, the application of dog urine, or paw prints.)
And while we’re on the subject, do NOT point your dog onto my grass, purposely urging it to take a dump on my lawn — this to the young woman who owns the bloodhound.
Unwilling audience to a conversation, I got to listen to neighbors looking down their noses upon other neighbors. There is an eccentric couple who live on a corner nearby, and, though their property is well-kept, it isn’t pristine lawn and flowers planted nicely in orderly rows. It’s artistic, with a rusty frog (purposely rusty) peering out at the world from a riotous flower planting, driftwood and miscellany artfully attached to a purposely rustic fence, and, amongst other interesting touches, a disintegrating fiberglass bear set in such a way as to present an artistic statement. (The bear, by the way, was “original artwork” done for an exhibition and auction, compliments of one of Sandpoint’s stupid tourist-draw marketing frenzies.) In other words, their yard isn’t tame, sterile, and “suburban plastic.”
I applaud these individuals on their choices. I applaud their “nerve” (as one snippy neighbor so nicely put it). I applaud their choice to be themselves, a house that looks alive amid blocks of sterile lawns which mimic AstroTurf, and plantings that come straight out of Martha Stewart’s idea of a Stepford Wife’s Perfect Planting. *YUCK!*
Psst! You know what REALLY irks everyone? They can’t see into these folk’s side-yard and backyard or through their windows. They made their place very, very private, except for the front corner yard, which, of course, is gorgeously unique, and completely obscures any nosy eyes from spying in their windows or beyond the gates. *snicker*
I think people ought to take their snippy attitudes and their concern about what someone else is doing in their lives, with their property, and how it looks, sounds, and IS, and stuff those thoughts back where they belong – vaulted inside their much too empty minds. …Now, all together, folks: FLUSH!
Watch coverage of the Just $6 event at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Former Senators Bill Bradley (D-NJ) and Alan Simpson (R-WY) reached across the aisle to take an inside look at the impact of big money on our political system.
http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=1124
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