That derned TV'll rot yer brain!

Hello again! Well, I'm back and thoroughly refreshed from my visit on the big island, Hawaii. Nothing like being around the birthing of an Island to bring perspective on things. Though I can say I don't miss those damn frogs.

So, once again I feel compelled to write. I was on the freeway this evening when I came upon this truck. Model and make are immaterial. Through its back window I could clearly see a screen showing some movie. Now understand, this is not the first time I have seen this. I find myself rationalizing how a law for the use of cell phones exists; yet, one can still possess what amounts to a home theater system in their car. This makes no sense!

These things are playing while someone is driving; yes I know they come with headphones, yet it is a rarity that I see someone wearing them. Bet the batteries ran out! The screen is positioned so the driver can't watch. So what (Remind me at some point what I want to say about headphones)! So, you know, bombs going off, people screaming… somehow the driver isn't the least bit distracted?

Now before someone who knows me says "But, Zen, you own a car that has one of those!" Yes, I do, and I have a good explanation! I never wanted it. It was acquired from my brother in-law, in trying to help him out of a difficult financial situation, hence, here it is. To my credit I have never used it, nor care too. Although, from time to time I've had this fantasy of being on a hot date, driving deep into the woods amongst the bears and squirrels, commencing to fondle and grope each other while watching some hot porn. Bears applaud, squirrel's blush. Now that sounds cool, and never during any of that would I be driving. The car, anyway…

Maybe more importantly is the issue that family values may have forever officially washed down the proverbial toilet. What's the matter Mom? Dad? Whoever you are! Can't have a meaningful conversation about life or how was your day? Kyra, Bobby, Billy and what's your name? Or maybe have some deep conversation about what's going on in our world? Explain to those confused kiddies how a guy who's never had a real job in his life, snorted coke, and is basically a raging dry drunk, somehow got to be president. That ought to take up a good few hours!

I don't know, I guess on long trips videos could be handy, but a drive to the local market? Geez! Guess the kids got to watch The Little Mermaid for the billionth time. I remember telling stories or just bonding, occasionally throwing up, but only on long drives (Something about facing backwards in that ole station wagon). Anyhow, mostly I remember mom or dad telling us stuff about our history or their parents and past, giving us clues to where they, and we, came from. Telling jokes. Dodging dad's backhand when we were out of control.

Now, it's sitting mindless like good little robots being brain sucked by some flashing lights and music telling us when to laugh, cry, or be mad. Uhggg! Oh man that reminds me of that commercial I just saw (I know! I know! I get caught up in it to!). There's this family who has no connection to each other dad makes them all go for a ride to drive around and watch TV or movies in the car and get closer. Makes me want to puke in my own living room. Yeah, GMC is bringing families closer together while polluting the environment, all at the same time. Now there's your special two for one deal!

While we're on commercials, let's get serious for a moment. Not too long ago I was in Vegas. Yes, Zen loves to play Poker occasionally. Anyway, I pulled into this gas station and thought I was blasted right into a Blade Runner movie. Jesus! Multiple screens with advertisements on the gas pump! What is wrong with these people? Can't I have a moment to myself? Can't I just smell the toxic fumes in peace? It gets worse… I was at a checkout stand in Arizona. Same thing: T.V. advertisements. Seriously, this has got to stop! First, noise pollution now its advert-pollution. Give us a break! Honestly, I will never buy a product from anyone who uses that medium, just to prove a point. Man, it makes me want to pull an Al Capone on the next advertiser I meet. Let's see, do I have any baseball bats lying around?

You know what started this? It's the damn mute button and TIVO, that's what did it! Too many people not wanting to hear their sex lives, lifestyles, homes, cars, kids, bodies and minds aren't good enough. Or 1 out of 3, 4, 7, 12 will die of something, somehow, someway, someday, and there is nothing you or I can do about. Why? Because even the answer will blind you, hurt you, cause any number of emotional distresses and/or a variety of other ailment's including the failure but not limited to just one of many organs, or just simply kill you. Then again it may do absolutely nothing, but that's a lie, because it will cost you your money so you still lose and that's another pain in the ass.

They make cars that can go 160 miles an hour, yet the speed limit here is 70, tops. What the hell is going on? Madness, I tell you, and it's being shoved right down our throats. When we tune them out, change the channel or hit the mute button they've got to find us… Stalkers, they are! Commercial stalkers out for that buck, worse than the crack dealer. At least those guys have a corner to hang out on! Pretty much anyone who wants to find them knows where to go. They're not hanging out in my living room trying to sell me something every ten minutes that I don't even want! They go where the business is, not where it isn't.

I imagine that's why the home video industry is so huge. Except, what is with this? I can't fast forward for those first few minutes? See, again, it's like making you watch when you don't want to watch. That's called holding you hostage, and that tactic sucks, because there is no one to hold them accountable, or put them in jail for invading my space, my mind, my children's minds, my friend's minds. But I bet if someone finally loses their mind, it might be considered.

Again! Where is my bat?

To be continued…

-Zen Twist

Severed Internet cables, Oil, and the "mighty" dollar

I've been following the story about the five undersea data cables that were severed, and was compelled to post something, but then I stumbled upon another blog called I Love Bonnie.net, and I found that she has done some impressive research on the subject already, and I couldn't really think of a whole lot more to add to what she's already contributed.

First, a summary of what's been going on, for those of you who may not have heard:

Over the past week, give or take a couple days, FIVE undersea cables were severed, allegedly due to accidents (in a couple instances, anchors dragging was the reason given), or power failures.

Fine, no big deal, they'll fix it up and things will be fine. Right? Well, the country most affected by these cables being severed is Iran. They've had major communications disruptions this week. Two of the cables were just off the island if Kish, the proposed location for Iran's brand-new "bourse," or "oil stock exchange." To add to the drama, this new exchange would NOT be accepting US dollars in exchange for oil. If this sounds familiar, bonus points for you, because, back in autumn of 2000, another oil-rich country in the middle east made the same decision NOT to accept US currency for oil. If you guessed Saudi Arabia, you would be... wrong. If you guessed Iraq, congratulations!

What do you win, you ask? Well, I can only speculate, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's... (cue music from "The Price is Right:"

A BRAND NEW WAR! *Applause!!!*

Unlike myself, Bonnie does not go as far as stating this conclusion, but if you're keen on following trends, this may be one to pay attention to. Here is the article from Bonnie's blog: Submarine Cables, Subsidiaries and Subversion

That's all for now,

-Zen Twist.

Aloha!

Well Aloha to you all, I was getting fed up with the weather there on the Mainland, as they call it here, and decided to change my scenery… didn’t take long to find something to complain about.

I literally had just set foot in the airport of beautiful Hawaii, when my flight seat buddy, who went by ‘Ole Tom, explained that the choir of noises I was hearing was coming from little frogs. I thought, “Oh, that’s so cute!”

Then he went on to tell me they are not from Hawaii, but from Georgia, and I don’t mean the Georgia that’s in Russia. At least that would have been a creative feat to have pulled off. (Right now some guy in Georgia named Joe Billy Joe is thinking “Hey they got a place in Russia named after our own state!” Man you got to love our education system.)

Anyway, yeah, some guy from Georgia, probably a relative of Joe Billy Joe. Missed his home state so much he smuggled at least 2, and it’s a pretty safe bet one of them was a girl. So! What was it!? He wanted to feel a little more at home?

Now I know, some of you are asking, how do I know it was a guy? Fair question! Easily answered! You see, woman don’t have that same need to spread their seed of life all over the place, men do! A perfect example is the English! In their hey day, their favorite pastime was fishing and as they conquered the world, guess what they loved to leave behind? No, not vials of semen, but fish (Ok maybe not vials but they did that too). Yes they spread those babies all over Europe, Africa, America, even Brazil. In fact, Brazil has the only sea-going run of brown trout in the world. Now, one might think, “hey, that’s cool!” and honestly in some ways it is. An argument could be made to say that man is a part of nature too, so it’s all good. Hmm, let’s see… at least fish provides a food! I say it’s ok as long as it doesn’t threaten or infringe on other species, which is rare. While we’re on the topic of fish, here’s one that really does suck.

Several morons decided to smuggle a few Pike fish into Northern California a few years back, guess they were bored of fishing for Bass, Salmon, Stripper, Cat fish, Rainbow trout, as well as many others. They put them in a lake/reservoir and it was enough Pike that they bred and had babies. Well when it rained, this lake would eventually spill into the river below it, and that’s just where major Steelhead and salmon runs occurred! (Where Salmon go to have babies!) Good going, morons! For those of you who don’t know what a Pike fish is I will now describe: It is a long and powerful predator fish with razor-sharp teeth. They are very aggressive fish that can get anywhere from 30 to 60 pounds. If it had gotten established it could have wiped out the salmon, steelhead and rainbow trout as well as any other poor fish which might have been swimming around. They have no defense against such a fish.

Anyway, Dept. of fish had to poison the lake several times over the course of two years before the problem was finally resolved. I won’t even get into that for now. “Mommy, where does the poison go?” “It just disappears into thin air Jimmy.” Lucky they were detected when they were or it could have been a disaster.

Ok, Hmm, frogs… still not getting anything, Uh just a quick note if they ever catch those guys! I think they should be submerged in a pool up to their waists, with large Pike and have bait attached to their genitalia, assuring they will live but they will not produce offspring of their own. A Pikesectomy! Of course this should only be done in Michigan or anywhere Pike is a native species.

Ok, back to the original point: the rationale is not there for frogs, and let me tell you, they are everywhere here, and they have propagated into the millions. They have no threats to themselves, so? Carry on, and keep on Froggin’! Of all the frogs to bring, it would take a Georgian to have brought the most useless; you can’t even eat them, they’re so damned small. They sound like a cricket and a bird. They whistle more than anything.

One thing’s for sure though, if the guy who brought them used to live here? You can bet he doesn’t live here anymore! I mean, think of it! Could you live around a constant 24-hour reminder of your own selfish, ignorant, stupidity? Could you sleep at night, listening to that repetitive singing, whistling, major screw up you single-handedly caused? I can imagine the guy losing his mind eventually; the frogs would have been calling out his name! “Joe! Billy Joe! Joe! Billy Joe!” He may have gone mad. Just think, he wouldn’t go home, not to Georgia, ‘cus that’s where the frogs came from! That’s ok, he could always go back to that Georgia in Russia.

To be continued…

Zen Twist