Is it the Quickening?

   The Quickening is a concept about the acceleration of events as time draws to a close. The term can be applied to many different situations but the one that stands above all others is the end of time. Now I'm not a doomsayer and I don't believe the end of the world is at hand (although I acknowledge that it very well could be) but the advent of technology in the last decade or two can be mind-boggling when you stop to consider it. What started me thinking on it was a story in the news today about the effect of the iPad on the cable and satellite TV industry. It seems that Apples iPad would be the medium through which the internet kills off traditional television and cable programming in much the same way as iTunes (and similar music download services) are killing off record and distribution companies.
   The internet is fast becoming the goose that lays the golden eggs and in the process the other geese are dying off from neglect. The traditional newspaper industry, the recording industry and cable and satellite TV companies are finding their market is rapidly diminishing as more and more people get their news, download music and watch streaming television on a computer and/or the iPad.
   Where we once viewed concepts such as laser guns, teleportation, androids and other far flung ideas that permeate science fiction as exactly that - fiction - we now have working laser guns (which the US Navy demonstrated just yesterday), the teleportation of minute particles, intelligent robotics, invisibility cloaks and even a type of replicator.
   Truly we are living in a time of quickening or to put it another way I quote Captain Aubrey from the film Master and Commander - Far Side of the Universe when admiring a new wooden ship hull design: "What a thoroughly modern world we live in!"

I'm not a Bigot

I recently received the following email from a family member. Please read this then read the rebuttal I replied with. To all my family and friends who are bigots or otherwise prejudiced. Some of you have said that you can't vote republican and you won't vote for Obama so you just won't vote at all. I ask you to reconsider, we have had a religious kook in the white house for the last 8 years. You know how the country has been devasated by this man and I must say with help from the no good democratic congress. If you don't vote for Obama it is the same as a vote for McCain. Look at McCain, he looks like he has one foot in the grave already. So chances are you would end up with an even more devastating religious fanatic in the white house. Our country is bankrupt and fast becoming a third world nation. I believe all the religious fanatics will vote for McCain so be forewarned. Here is my reply (edited to protect the identity of the family member): My mother forwarded a statement that you made (I assume in an email) and I feel compelled to tell you that I must take exception to it. I do not believe that I qualify as a bigot, a racist, a sexist, or any of the negative terms generally associated with people who have a shallow mind. I have a college education, and I am gainfully employed at a newspaper that espouses a Libertarian party view even though I don't agree with everything the Libertarian Party stands for. I love my God, my family, my country and the Tennessee Volunteers (in that order). Having spent my informative years living on or near US military bases (that my dad was stationed at) I believe I have gained a great understanding of the sacrifices our military men and women make for this country - even those who only look at their service as a stepping stone to a college education. I consider myself a devout patriot citizen. I am neither Republican or Democrat. When I vote I do not see a skin color or whether the candidate has breasts or not. My first consideration when deciding on who to vote for is the candidates moral character. Not whether or not they have stumbled morally in life but rather how they dealt with and recovered from the wrong path they may have taken. It is likewise ludicrus to condemn a man or woman for the performance of another man or woman. If such were the case then I would never consider voting for a Democrat because of the lack of morals of Bill Clinton. Barack Obama is not Bill Clinton. Neither is John McCain the same as George Bush. As for a candidates age being a concern then Obama and Palin's ages should also disqualify them as they are not old enough to have the benefit of extended experience. I would much rather have an experienced older man or woman in the White House than an inexperienced one. Even the youthful Palin brings a more well-rounded experience in government than does Obama. If we were voting on experience alone then Joe Biden should be facing John McCain. As far as a "religious fanatic" in the White House - even though I don't believe Sarah Palin is a fanatic, do you honestly feel she would be worse because of her religious beliefs than say Bill Clinton, who evidently absconded from his religious beliefs when he had an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky in the office that our tax dollars pay for? Or that Palin would be worse than Obama, a man who has aligned himself with religious "bigots" (isn't that the word YOU used) in the recent past like Jeremiah Wright? As far as our country being bankrupt - well, the congress should hold the blame for that since they refuse to pass legislation that would regulate Wall Street, or legislation that would promote and encourage development of alternative energy sources. Without cutting our ties to oil we remain shackled to inflated prices at the pump and that is the root of America's current anxiety over our nations economic state. I do hope you rethink your position and no matter who you vote for I hope you vote for the person who is best for the job - not the person because they are a woman or black or young or old. To this I would also add that I do not believe Obama has America's best interests at heart as evidenced by passages in both of the books he has written and especially this passage from his book Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.' This is definately not a man I want leading my country. 

It's Called Pole Dancing

Recently I attended an Elon University basketball game but the memories I carried away from that arena had nothing to do with basketball. Rather it was the sickening half-time show by a local youth "dance" team. It occurred to me during this "routine" that if the children performing had poles to twirl around on that they would have felt right at home at a strip club. Don't get me wrong, there was no discarding of clothing articles, instead it was a grotesque display of undulating pelvic thrusts and bodies writhing about on the floor. The youngest of these young ladies (there were no boys) couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old while the oldest was likely 15 or 16. I found myself asking where these children's parents were? Surely they were not in attendance for if they had been they would have been appalled at their young daughters performing sexually suggestive gyrations. I mean, surely a conscientious parent would never allow or encourage their daughter to be involved in such an activity.
    When I voiced my incredulity to the friend I was with he said "that's how they 'dance' now" and then he jokingly implied that I was a pervert for noticing it and pointing it out. That got me up on my soapbox. I may be getting old but I still know when a female moves in a particular way she is trying to evoke something out of her onlookers and while a woman moving in such a way might be a stimulating sight, to see children, young girls, emulating pole dancers and lap dancers only serves to get my anger up. In all likelihood most of these girls were only going through a routine and thought nothing of it but I cannot imagine that the older girls never had it cross their mind that what they were doing was sexual and designed to capture the lascivious attention of boys.
    I realize most young women today idolize the Hollywood trash like Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and that is truly a shame. But what is more shameful is that so many parents encourage their children, nay they push their children to be like the tinsel town sluts. A parent that lets a child become involved in such activities isn't much of a parent and should not be surprised one day when their daughters begin to take notice of boys and wind up raped, deflowered, or pregnant.
    I'm not against dancing. I think there is a time and a place for dancing provided it isn't of a sexually perverse nature. Parents, if you want your child to be involved in dance why not get them to take up ballroom, square, contra or any number of different dance styles that are much more challenging and much more rewarding than learning how to slither around a pole and on a floor so that disgusting men can stuff money between the girls butt cheeks or breasts.

The Wrap-Around Butt logo

Not too long ago I became aware of a fad that has increased in popularity. I call it the "Wrap-Around Butt Logo" pants. The first time I saw WABL pants was in the mall. A few young teenage girls had them on. The pants themselves weren't much to speak of and were not worthy of notice except for the sagging wording imprinted on the seats of the pants - "ABERCROMBIE." How ridiculous I thought, to pay good money for pants that don't even fit right in the first place, then to add insult to injury the wording on the seat of the pants is so long that it almost wraps around the whole pelvis area and as if that weren't enough, the whole package was extremely unflattering to the young ladies appearance.

As time has gone on I have begun to see more and more women wearing these pants with different words or names emblazoned across their rump. The trouble is that someone has sold these women a pack of lies saying that this fashion statement looks good. IT DON'T! Just like with those dang stirrup pants that were all the rage for a few years - women just don't look good in them. Oh, I suppose that somewhere there is a woman that these WABL pants look good on, but she sure isn't in this hemisphere. For most women WABL pants emphasize their "wobble" - and I'm not talking about how they swing their hips! For these women suddenly four and five letter words look like they were printed by someone who spent too much time in the fun house mirror room. Again, it reminds me of those awful stirrup pants where every centimeter of cellulite and plain old fat is highlighted, accentuated and flashing in neon!

I don't know who the fashionistas are that sell women these ideas about clothing when they should be listening to me instead. I can tell you in a heartbeat what looks good on women and what doesn't. I mean if you can't trust a bona-fide all-American heterosexual man to tell you what looks good on women who can you trust?

The Meaning of "Hand Prints"

In the Louis L'amour book "The Californio's" there is a passage where the main character is describing how he once came across some old adobe ruins and in those ruins he found a stone imprinted with an ancient hand print. The character begins to wonder about that hand print and who made it. What was he like? What were his dislikes? What were his fears? What would he consider his accomplishments? Was he loved? Respected? Honored? Just who was the man that made that hand print and what was his world like? Did he make the hand print on purpose for those to come eons down the road of time? Was it his way of saying "I was here!" "I made a difference!" "I am important!" "Do not forget me!" Was it his way of becoming immortal?
The imagery from that passage has stuck with me ever since I first read it years ago. We all want to be remembered by somebody and we all try to find our own way to be remembered that satisfies us. For some it is enough to be remembered by family, others desire notoriety or a place in history books, still others desire fame or a lasting image on celluloid. We all want to find our own way to leave our "hand prints."
While the internet and web logs can be fleeting and temporary, it is for me one way to say that "I was here." Maybe someone will copy something I say or post or maybe they will just remember it. If so then I will not be forgotten quickly and possibly something I will write will be copied, repeated and remembered through the eons ot time.
This then is my "Hand Print."