Spelunking the Universe
Archive for September, 2009
Talent in the World.
Sep 14th
I often wonder how many people are overlooked in the world. There are something like 7 billion people in the world, that is an absolutely astounding number. While we all generally have similar organic configurations the slight variations in each person entail that something amazing can be done by them.
But it troubles me that so many could die before their talents are discovered. So many people who can actually sing overlooked because they aren’t as attractive as “Generic High School Voice #4”, so many folks who could build grand buildings but don’t get the proper education, discover the cure for cancer but never get the proper science education, great writers who never flourish because of illiteracy.
7 Billion people in constant rotation. Amidst these folks are some of the greatest ideas of this generation and certainly many of the greatest ideas never thought in the past. Where once great ideas found persecution we now likely are amidst an equally devastating situation of being overlooked.
I wonder honestly how many great ideas and how many fantastic talents will die by the end of this month. How many of these people will even have close friends or families that knew of their abilities. Just how much have we been stunted technologically and culturally because of trivial issues that could be resolved with an ounce of common sense and maturity.
For me it is a startling thought, an unsettling pool bubbling at the base of my stomach. Even at the most emotionless level, just thinking of the lost data, it is shocking. At the emotional level it is a good bit heartbreaking, to think of all the lives that could have been great, how many flames merely flickered instead of burned.
I wonder if we’ll ever reach a point where people will all be granted the chance to do what we do best. Where we’ll credit those who truly earn what they get, where each death can be one of completion and comfort as opposed to another instance of lost opportunity and shattered dreams.
Donation Services
Sep 14th
It has come to my attention that paypal isn’t working for folks. I’ll look around but if anyone knows of a better donation service (as opposed to just telling me to find one, since that isn’t entirely helpful) I’d love to know. Feel free to comment here or use the more popular option of emailing me via the ask rico function on the site.
Thanks much and hopefully soon I’ll have more here. Been working mostly on my book lately (and admittedly playing a bit too much).
The Failure of the Terror Alert
Sep 13th
I’m sure at this point most people know how futile the “Terror Alert” system is. There are no guidelines for how to act nor is there really a good outline of “Why” or “What” the increased or decreased terror alerts entail.
If you go back far enough they essentially had a system like this during the cold war. However it was pretty straight forward. You knew if it was going we were being nuked and you needed to go to a shelter. It’s not fun information but at least in that situation it may have been necessary.
The Terror Alert system however is entirely fruitless. It has been little more than a campaign tool. During the 2004 election campaign the Bush camp intentionally raised the threat level to help secure the win. You can find various websites and newspapers that covered this, if it so suites you.
The goal of terrorism is to remain on peoples minds. I highly doubt that people will ever forget the events of Pearl Harbor, yet you will not find people incessantly reminding anyone to ‘never forget 12-7"’, it is this never ending push to not allow it to settle that feeds into the entire mechanic of terrorism. While at this point it is painfully clichéd I would say that the moment we decided to not let it rest was the day that the terrorists “won”.
I realize they can’t win, I realize in death nobody wins, but egos demand that in all conflict there be a winner. While you will never truly find one you will at least find someone who claims to be that one. For as long as we have a terror alert level, for as long as we act differently because of what happened, for as long as we allow this facade that we are in any more danger now than we were before the twin towers, we have lost.
The Terror Alert system was a failure the moment it was unveiled, it was an insult to intelligence and currently a tool only used for political gain. It is the demand to never forget terrorism that fuels terrorisms growth because it proves to them that they are successful.
Then again, a simple plane ride, ferry ride, or train ride will prove to anyone that they were successful. How pitiful it is to watch 300 million change their lives because of the actions of a dozen.