*I’ve been out visiting my sister and her new husband in Georgia, hence the no writing. Athens is a really cool little town, and I had a fantastic time. I miss you, Kiddo!!!*

When I was younger, I had a strong environmentalist bent. I bought “rainforest crunch” to save trees, promoted recycling in a town that didn’t have a recycling program, and marched in parades with BSET, the Boerne Student Earth Team. Somewhere around the age of 15, however, I was already an apostate. I’d gotten the distinct impression I was being lied to, or at least that extremism was being presented as facts, and as much as I’d love a healthier planet, without real facts, I wasn’t sure anymore that anything I did was actually helping. Any dissension I voiced was viewed as heretical by my compatriots, and eventually I left the group, vowing to do what I could on my own, but I couldn’t march when I felt like half the time I didn’t know what I was marching for.

And so I continue to this day, hanging on the fringes of the environmental movement, never really allowed in due to my doubts about global warming, belief that corn for fuel when there’s a world-wide food shortage is unethical (along with a few zillion other problems I have with ethanol, but that’s a different post), and thoughts that maybe it wouldn’t be horrible to spend money on clean coal technology, recovering shale oil, or safely extracting Crystal Methyl Hydrates. It’s not like humanity is going to quit using electricity for the sake of the planet (and, to be honest, whether or not it’s better for the planet, I don’t want to give it up, either), so it seems to me that exploring cleaner and less Middle-East-Dependent avenues of fossil fuels while people like my husband work on solar technology is a good thing.

So with my experiences, when my friend Ginger sent me an article called Global Warming as Religion, I found it quite humorous and true to my experiences. Granted, author John Brignell is not presenting a scientific treatise (though he is defending science) with documentation and source quoting, but that doesn’t detract from the amusement. Besides, he uses the word troglodyte, and any article that uses the trog is automatically cool in my book. So, if you’ve got a few minutes (it’s not exactly short), check it out. He’s got some good points. If you don’t, here my favorite quote from it that I feel needs to be repeated: “There is no fundamental clash between faith and science – they do not intersect. The difficulties arise, however, when one pretends to be the other.”

So… the President of the United States should apparently NOT talk to schoolchildren about the importance of education. ‘Cause that would be bad.

WTH? I’ve heard several people saying things like we shouldn’t discuss social issues in the classroom because the government should stay out of education. Um… the government runs education, unless you didn’t notice that public school is paid for by taxes and not directly from your pocket like private school or homeschool. At which point you can pay to send your kids to whatever weapons stock-piling, Kool-Aid drinking commune you want. Not that most private/home schools are like that. A lot of them are really cool, but, you know, if you don’t like the society you are a part of, you can find private education that caters to your particular breed of madness.

So, if you are still seriously concerned about the dangerous and subversive messages that the President is secretly sending to the youth of America with his socialist rally on Tuesday, I have discovered the ultra-secret hiding place of all the materials – including the speech and lesson plans, I mean lesson propaganda – that Obama is imprinting your children with through that hotbed of liberal thought known as public schools. It’s on WhiteHouse.gov. It takes 1 or 2 clicks to get to from the front page, depending on how you get there. Practically classified.

I’m sorry, do I sound bitter? I usually try to reign in my more caustic comments, but this just, well, it really pissed me off. The labels we carry – our political party, our self-identified race, our nationality, our religion, our jobs – these things are pieces of who we are, but the pervasive idea that you can disseminate all that a human is from a couple labels and then mark everything they do as evil or good because of it is destructive to the human race. All politicians aren’t evil. All liberals aren’t conniving. All Christians aren’t condemning you to Hell. All Muslims aren’t violent. All Americans aren’t money-grubbing, over-sexed, culturally insensitive morons. Some? Sure. All? Heck no. Our upbringing colors our opinions of everything, but people – and therefore groups – change. What was ten years ago, is probably not true today. For the love of God and Humanity, give people a chance before you condemn them. Don’t look for the worst, because you will find it even if it isn’t there.

And then where will we be?

Time Magazine ran a poll: Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America’s most trusted newscaster? And I gotta admit, I completely agree with the majority here and have said so for a long time. I didn’t realize I was in such popular company.

Apparently our nation likes casual, funny, honest, passionate, and biting more than ponderous fear-mongering and ad-naseum redundancy. That’s not the part I consider a bad sign. The part that’s bad is that, well, the person we most like to get our news from… claims he’s not a newscaster.

I would actually disagree with him, but it seems to me a sign of the times that America’s favorite newscaster doesn’t come from the traditional news establishment. We need to take a serious look at what we as a nation are holding on to “’cause that’s the way it’s always been done!” and what actually works. And we certainly don’t need to start a “new establishment” of copy-cats trying to imitate what’s popular. Our favorite newscaster works because he is a smart man doing what he loves and saying what he believes, not because he followed a trend.

I guess what I’m saying is that the world will become a better place as more people feel empowered to follow their hearts, instead of following the crowd. I hope that every day you find time to pursue being the person you want to be!

My computer had a meltdown last night. Like, I was chatting with Kat and then it froze. That’s not a huge deal; happens sometimes, so I went to the bathroom to give it a moment to right itself. And when I came back it had restarted itself. And the restart came up with a black screen and a mouse that I could move around… but didn’t do anything else. So I shut down and restarted. And then it went nuts. Like messages scrolled across my screen in some sort of scandisk hell in which things were corrupted and moved around and orphaned and… I have no idea. After my husband and I tried to figure out what was going on – for about an hour – we decided to go to sleep. I woke up this morning with Scott’s 5AM alarm (I usually sleep ’til 8:00, particularly after I’d stayed up until midnight trying to get my computer to work), computer was still a basketcase, found my installation disks (but not the drivers; still have no idea why I would’ve put the driver installation disk in a different place than EVERY OTHER INSTALLATION disk my computer came with, but whatevs), and finally, after it was clear that I could do no good, went back to sleep. Woke up at my normal 8:00 with Scott bringing coffee (he’s amazing that way) and my operating system being reinstalled, because nothing else was working.

So.. luckily I had run a back up, either Sunday or Monday night, not sure which yet (currently installing drivers and eventually I’ll get to the backup installation and figure out if I’ve been backing up what I think I’ve been backing up). But regardless of when that was, I did six hours of edits yesterday – six hours – that I was so happy with I’d even gloated to Scott about them. Six. Hours. Even if I did run back up every night, which admitedly, I don’t, that wouldn’t have been saved because my computer flipped a gasket while I was still using it.

This made me think about  the way we as a society think about computers. I know it’s not this way for everybody, but for me, my computer is one of the most important things I own. My car broke down on Saturday (it’s still in the shop – it’s been a red-letter week for repairs), and that didn’t distress me half as much. I can take the bus. I can borrow somebody else’s car. But borrowing somebody else’s computer does not get me my six hours of work back. And while I KNOW it’s not true, and I can put the work in to get back what I did, there’s always this feeling like… I really liked what I had created. Can I make something I’ll like as much? The words will never be the same as what I had, but can I make something I’ll be equally proud of?

[side note: drivers installed; installing 77 security updates; and in case you're wondering, I'm blogging from my husband's computer]

It seems to me that computers get handled a lot like an expensive can opener – a utility that  when it breaks, it’s merely an inconvenience until you replace it. And maybe that was it twenty years ago, but now computers are like a bizarre jewelry box that when it breaks makes your grandmother’s pearls disappear.

This is why I’m seriously into Google (who, I’m also convinced, has a world domination plot; there is no other reason to do the amount of stuff they do for you for free) and the way Amazon handles Kindle files. These companies treat data differently than, say iTunes (which I use and love, but it is run by a computer company, not a services or software company) which counts on a faulty piece of hardware to save your pearls. (And yes, backup, backup, backup… but I’m running out of room to back everything up on and I’ve got a 40 GB portable hard drive.)

Unlike iTunes, Amazon keeps a record of your purchases, and you can re-download them to your Kindle whenever you want. That way if I, say, drop my Kindle in the fountain I’m reading by, yes I have to replace a $300 item (which would suck… and teach me not to read by fountains), but not the $300 item and $900 or more worth of books.  If my computer has a meltdown while I’m chatting with my friend after I’ve downloaded a bunch of music from iTunes but before I’ve backed it up… I lose both my computer and the music. (Luckily, I THINK all my music was backed up).

And with GoogleDocs, as long as I can get to an internet connection, I can work on my wips, and I feel secure knowing that my documents are safe. There’s a built in redundancy that I am not personally responsible for. Google – who I have not given any money to – takes better care of my jewelry than Dell, who I did give money to.  I’m currently debating whether or not to just move all my writing onto googleDocs… I just don’t always write somewhere with an internet connection, and therein lies the issue.

But these companies understand that in the information age, an idea and the words or pictures that state it are vastly more important – and can be worth a lot more money – than the item used to compose it. Paper is a dead tree. Keyboards are plastic… but the things you create with them, they have worth.

[Security Updates 49% downloaded]

Send good hopes my way that as I re-edit my first 50 pages, a muse sits on my shoulder and guides my hands. I don’t want to be a slave to memory, trying to recreate what I did (even though it was damn awesome) because attempting to resurrect a ghost never creates a vital being. So I will need her to hang out for another six hours or so. After the security updates finish. And after I reinstall Chrome and iTunes and Open Office. And after I get by backup running and see what I have and what I don’t.

Blessings for the New World Order:

(God may save my soul, but I’m pretty sure my files are up to me, Mr. Brin and Mr. Page)

“Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.”

Wow.

I was just thinking about this yesterday (before I saw the quote today), how every group is represented not by the best people, but by the loudest people. An example. I remember having a conversation once regarding homosexuality. The other person said something to the effect of, “Well, there must be something abberant about it; look at all those people marching in parades with leather thongs on.” And she gave a couple more examples of more extreme behavior. And while I don’t see anything weird about being gay, I have to admit, I think it’s weird to wear a leather thong in public. (Not that “weird” is an evil thing; if you have a desire to do something that I or anybody else considers “weird” and it’s not hurting anybody, get on with your bad self. Just, also, don’t be mad if I continue to think it’s weird. You can think things I do are weird. I promise not to get offended.)

So, anyway, her logic ran “I’ve seen lots of weird behavior by gay people. Being gay must therefore be weird.” Not terrible logic, but the flaw is exactly what I told her next. “You’re talking about a marginalized group. The people that don’t want to be perceived as “weird” are not marching. Or they’re in the center of the pack wearing sunglasses and a hat so that their number is represented, but their boss / family / pastor / whoever doesn’t see them. The people you see are the ones who don’t care what you or anybody else thinks. Those people are also more likely to wear a leather thong in public.”

Not everybody’s going to be as “you go with your weird self” as I am, and so the 10,000 are judged by the “socially unacceptable” actions of the 10.

I think Christianity lately has gotten a really bad rap for this same thing. (This is why I was thinking about it yesterday; my dad and I talked about faith for a little while while he was helping me tile my shower, and it was a cool conversation; my dad’s a pretty amazing guy. Anyway, back on topic.) Here we have a faith with millions of people doing Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels and going to church and living good, quiet lives. And then we have Jerry Falwell, the loud one, with his infamous quotes such as:

“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped [9/11] happen.’”

I’m on that list like three times. All but the most extreme conservatives knows and likes somebody on that list. And then your average American, reeling from this attack promoted by blind, prejudicial, religious hatred (and I’m talking about 9/11 there… ) is gonna draw an easy comparison between “My version of Islam or die” and Mr. Falwell.

And then then 10,o00 look like zealots because of the accusations of the 10.

This is my rationale for going against most members of my faith regarding issues like prayer in school. I think we should encourage expression in all it’s forms, and instead of shutting it down, we should simply make sure that more forms get a voice. Pray at graduation. Just make sure there’s 3 or 4 short prayers, maybe a Christian, an Islamic, a Buddhist, and a humanist (I guess that wouldn’t be a prayer, but a “good vibe address”). Let people see a sample of the beautiful diversity of the school’s student body. Pray before a game, but each week let a different faith group lead it (and Baptist this week, Fundamental Baptist next week doesn’t count as different – and I realize that’s where the problem with my ideal is gonna come in). But the world needs to see this. The 10,000 must speak.

I’ve challenged myself to not be “in your face” about it, but to be more open about who I am and what I believe, not because I want to “convert” anybody to my way of thinking, but because the more we can be honest with each other about the fact that we’re all different, the more understanding and united this world can be. Remember the rule of 10. Don’t let the wrong people be the only ones heard.

So in that line of thought, now you know that I:

1. play paper and dice games. Yes, I’m a gamer. Though it’s not my favorite system, I have played Dungeons and Dragons many times, and playing a rogue/sorcerer is my specialty. Check out Eden’s Unisystem if you want to see something really cool.
2. am 32 and still afraid of rollercoasters
3. have never smoked pot, but would vote for its legalization
4. think babies are ugly (except Avery; she’s perfect in every way. Even Seas, my devil cat, likes her)
5. love Britney Spears and am developing a serious fascination with Lady Gaga (who also wears completely inappropriate clothes in public)
6. was a virgin when I got married
7. write romance novels!!
8. listened to Rush Limbaugh religiously when I was in high school (yes, you can do that and still grow up normal)
9. practice Eclectic Wicca
10. worked on George W. Bush’s original gubernatorial campaign and voted for him the first time he ran for president. It was the last time I voted Republican in a major election. (To clarify, YES, I voted for Obama. Don’t hate who I was, love who I am. I’m promoting honesty and diversity here. *sheepish grin**)

What’s your list?