Averygoodun's Personal File

I can't read my FB page for more than an hour before I become too emotionally drained to do anything at all. So, there's that. Too bad it takes the disassembling of democracy to treat my addiction.

Lordy. It's all too much. I am trying my best to be as politically active as possible, but it's hard not to feel like end times are upon us. Not globally, I don't think. Just on this continent. Canada isn't even much of a safe-haven, because Trump's rise has empowered the fascist and racist scum there, too. (Not to mention that Canada historically has bent to the will of the States because they would prefer to keep what sovereignty they have.) And, of course, the end times are mainly for those of us who are vulnerable to begin with. Unless a full-scale revolt happens, the wealthy (who pander) will come out virtually unscathed.

Ach well.

Good things exist. Geoff's shoulder is strong and supple enough to shovel the wet muck that fell from the sky. It was only a few inches of the shtuff, but it was particularly heavy shtuff. He also is advancing in other areas that are meaningful.

Page is coming along on the saxophone. He's getting to the point where once he starts playing, he has fun (for the most part). Getting him to start, however... Well. He was startled at the nasty look I gave him last night when he commented blithely that he didn't think of his music being needed for practice. This was after soaking his reed, and futzing about for more than an hour (while we nagged at him every five minutes). He had a good practice, though. Too bad it took him an hour past bedtime to finish it. (I wasn't feeling well yesterday, which probably made the glare meaner than it should have been. We were on good terms before he went to bed.) I'm also super pleased that he's growing perceptive. He's a good man in the making, I think. An oddball, but a good and empathetic oddball.

I haven't been painting, but the basement progresses, and I did sketch out my next painting. I need to sketch it out further with colors today. I'm starting to conceive of a statement to go with this series of paintings. I don't want to use it, though, because I hate conceptual art that much. I am also practicing drawing faces again more frequently so as to be able to teach that better. Now I just need to figure out how to teach basic painting better. So much of it is instinctual for me, that it's hard to give advice that's practicable.

My health is... odd. I'm WAY better than I was leading up to the holidays, but I still feel pretty weak and fatigued. I really need to start exercising more, and meditating every day or else this administration is going to literally kill me from the stress. The trick is to remember to do it (which is a trick, given that my memory is the first thing to go when my energy is low). And I really dislike the amount of energy making decisions takes. I don't dislike it enough to give up my freedom of choice, but weighing things out is exhausting. (And some of it's stupid stuff, too. Like, I desperately need a haircut, but I also need supplies for finishing up the basement. I only have the money for one. And should I forgo both so as to subscribe to Teen Vogue and support the ACLU?)

But on the whole, life is pretty good for me and mine. And there are opportunities to make it better. So that's very good.

And here's hoping you all are doing well, too.

"Global warming" is a term that needs to die a swift and very public death. It is at best misleading, and at worst diverting.

The Arctic is warming. Climates are changing. Those are irrefutable facts. Another fact is that weather records only go back a couple hundred years, which is approximately a nanosecond (and I'm being generous) in terms of a global timescale. Hell, it's only a nanosecond in terms of ice-age cycles!

Yes, the ice samples taken from Antarctica give evidence that there hasn't been a drastic warming like this seen, well, ever. But, well, they also recently uncovered evidence that, under approximately a mile of ice, there's a MONSTER canyon in Greenland that was formed by river erosion, like the Grand Canyon, rather than by glaciers. And that points to the arctic going through occasional severe warming periods.

Basically, the global climate is an amazingly complex interweaving of regional climates (with each regional climate being an amazingly complex interweaving of millions of factors) that we have only started to assess in any meaningful way. Kinda like studying biology in the early 1800's.

That said, the main reason I HATE, LOATHE and DESPISE the term "Global Warming" is because it is so easily dismissed.

"Oh yeah, global warming is a real serious issue," the chucklehead jokes as they put on their warmest coats to go shovel the last two feet of snow dumped on them.

But, well, climate change did bring in the cold and the unusual snowfalls. It is a serious issue that's going to continue impacting billions of people.

Is climate change coming from greenhouse gasses we're pumping into the air? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Correlation does not equal causation. If it did, then there would be a case against vaccinations due to their link with autism (which is purely correlative; they have definitely disproved the purported causation link).

That said, should we work hard to severely limit future greenhouse gasses pumped into the air? HELL YES!!! Not only because they could be causing climate change, but because they have been proven, over and over and over again, to be bad for us individually and collectively!!!

But let's lead that charge with hyping up "Climate Change" rather than "Global Warming"! Because only the most stubborn, obtuse or money-grubbing will deny that the climate is changing.

(Though really, how about we lead the charge with something that's closer to home/more relatable? Like, oh, the pandemic spread of asthma and other bronchial diseases; the increase in cancers and immune disorders; the dying fishing industries worldwide; etc.)

( Whinge and whine )

It looks like Geoff will be coming back on time, meaning he'll be leaving Brazil tonight. It still seems unreasonable that he'll have to wait for seven hours once he gets back into this country. (His flight lands in Charlotte at 7:30am; his flight home leaves Charlotte at 2:30pm.) I guess he try for stand-by once he gets through customs...

OMG, Page is talkative this morning. His subjects have ranged from ATP mills (demonstrated by legos) and electron prisons to Narnian wars with the inclusion of Sticky Man.

Oh, great. Just hurt his feelings after he hurt himself (by flailing) for attention. I'm a crap mom in the mornings.

I also have a to do list for the weekend. Yay.

( Said list )

I think that's more than enough to be getting on with. Now need to go apologize to my son and get a cuddle.

ETA: Also, I want to move out of this country. The bombing suspect isn't getting Miranda rights. I understand the rationale, but it's still the wrong way to go. This is not how justice is wrought, and I wonder if most Americans can even see that anymore...

Former Senator Ron Paul isn't the most politic guy in the world, but he has a point.

Now, I know a lot of you, if not all of the American portion of my flist, know or love someone who is either in the military now or is a veteran. Hell, my brother and FIL are veterans (though my brother didn't serve in wartime). The following comments are not aimed at the current or former members of the military, as I do think they deserve a HELL of a lot more real respect (and rights) than we as a society afford them. This is aimed at our society. Our gun-obsessed, violent, destructive, shell-shocked culture that doesn't know respect from idolatry.

I respect those who have chosen to serve, or those who served against their will when the draft was still active.

However, I do not venerate them.

( Anti-militaristic-society rant )

So, do I think Ron Paul's comments are impolitic? Yeah. But I also think he's got a better handle on the truth of the situation than most. We have become a nation who lives by the sword. And we will die by it if we can't lay it aside. And soon.

Fuck this past decade, actually. Even if it has been a relatively good one for me.

Here's an interesting article about mass shootings in the US, however (with a quick aside about one of the author's points here). What's most interesting is how unclear the answer to this violence is.

Well, except for better mental health care. That seems patently obvious. And perhaps a good, long look at the national psyche itself. The individuals committing these heinous crimes are not a product of themselves alone, after all. Despite what Individualists will have you believe.

*shakes head*

I'm tempted to go pick Page up from after-school just so I can hug him. But on the other hand, school (and his incredibly upbeat after-school teachers) might be a better place for him right now.

But... I truly can't fathom how someone could do that (the killing of the kids, that is). The why, I actually can (though my hypothetical reasons are probably not the killer's reasons, i.e. killing as a matter of [really fucked-up, ill-thought-out] compassion), but not the how.

As I said, fuck today.

Fetal Personhood and Criminalizing Abortions: A Prosecutor's Perspective.

"So, personhood for a cluster of cells means that abortion could equal aggravated murder. Really, do Republicans want us prosecuting girls and women for the aggravated homicide of their zygotes? Is that the plan here? Do they actually want to impose the death penalty, or will life in prison be sufficient to satisfy their pathological need to punish women for the crime of being sexually active? Of course, if the woman is guilty, so is the man who facilitates her in procuring an abortion – boys, if you take your girlfriend to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, we’re going to imprison you both for murder. It’s called a “conspiracy.” In case you were wondering.

But if that isn’t their goal, if they would say “of course we don’t want that,” well, then, I have to ask, “what the hell do you want?” Because if you actually believe that a zygote is a person, then how can you demand anything less than justice for the murder victim? Acceptance of less than full accountability means that the zygote has less meaningful protection for its personhood than other persons."


What she doesn't point out is that under some of personhood bills that are out there, a woman could be charged with murder (or at least manslaughter) for having a miscarriage.


Are you pro-life? Are you really?

I think the "pro-life" title is, in most cases, terribly ironic. I'm pro-life. I do think believe life is sacred and should be cherished and respected. I think the death penalty needs to be abolished because it does not cherish and respect the lives of humans. I'm also ardently pro-choice because I think (not believe, but THINK) abortion needs to be legal so as to help cherish and respect the life of those already born.

No, the positions are really either anti-choice or pro-choice. I am anti-abortion/pro-choice. It is possible to be so without being a hypocrite because who am I to say what's an immoral decision for someone else? That would be me judging based upon my set of ethics, experiences and circumstances. The only other being who might possibly have a say in my (or anyone elses) moral decisions is God. If you believe in that. But I do know that when I thought of aborting Page's fetus, it felt evil. So I chose to carry him. Hence being anti-abortion/pro-CHOICE.


How Romney Would Treat Women

And this is why I will move out of the country if Romney is elected. It may take a year or so to make it happen, but to plan to continue living in a country where my opinions and decisions are considered beside the point just because of my sex is not only insulting, but untenable. And I just don't have the energy to fight against what seems to be the rising tide.

Please, please New Yorkers, please don't riot until after the election!

On the other side, however, please, please, get relief to those people soon, government and charity agencies!



And, to show the depths of my compassion, I'll add as a non sequitur that I really don't like accounting problems where the correct answer can only be achieved by typing in the the entire decimal. But I guess it's a good way to show how banks can make lots and lots of money on tiny fractions of a cent...

re: school.

As for politics, these are hugely amusing:

Romney's tax plan finally revealed!

Vice presidential debate, songified.

ETA: Oh, and the first presidential debate, songified, too!

Both of those debates clips are pretty non-partisan, and hilarious.

Oh, and here's the obligatory cheap shot at Romney.


And a factoid: Did you know that the NFL (National Football League aka American Football) is classified as a non-profit organization? I didn't before I got curious about how much net income they actually get from their $9 Billion revenue stream. (And the answer to my query was that in 2009, their net profit was over $47 million. Not bad for a non-profit, tax exempt organization, eh?)

An article about a teacher who needs to be fired. Any teacher who bullies, humiliates or otherwise picks on a student, especially for a (relatively benign) political view, needs to not be in a position of power.


In other bleh news, the car came back from the "check engine light" class, and... there were three codes with $700 of parts (PARTS, not labor) required to fix it.

Soooooo... I guess we'll be test driving cars this winter. I think. What with that, the alignment/axle issues and how the body is getting to be in pretty bad condition, so I really don't think the car is worth that kind of money (especially because I'd have to add in the cost of renting a car to get around while the car's being repaired).

*sigh* On the one hand, it will be nice to have a car that has four working windows again (and isn't dropping interior parts every other week), but on the other, it means we won't be getting out of debt in the near future like I hoped we would be.

Ach well. It is a 13-year-old car. Possibly even 14-year-old, depending on its issuing date.
That's pretty darn old for a car. Especially in an area that salts the roads. No matter what the mileage.


In good news, I'm feeling way better. Still don't know what's up, though I've been staying away from chilies, bananas and almond butter just in case any of them are the culprit. I tried staying away from tea, but... well... yeah. I'm an addict. So sue me.

Also in good news, the house smells wonderful from the pumpkin muffins I just made. Now I need to go finish baking the rest of the batter, put everything away, pack up a bunch of food for us and clean up before we leave for Boston. (Oh yeah, that's another good thing: we're going to see some friends, and M and I will be going to Ikea this evening! Page's big birthday present is waiting there...)

So, hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Interesting article on Obama:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama

It's long, but well-written.