We all got it coming, kid.

Sometimes at night I wake up and need to write something down. I keep a little notebook next to my bed and write down whatever fever dream is compelling me to document itself. Sometimes I'll write in the dark, with words overlapping, I'll write twice on the same page.

Earlier this week:

"Writing about myself is symptomatic of my anachronistic confidence and post-modern lack of modesty.

Maybe it's all just defiance. Maybe I'm rebelling against the egalitarian, social-socialism of the times. Maybe I can't stand the zeitgeist of gladness and revering the parity of everything. If I lived in a time of winners and losers, which I surely do not, would I push for the participant ribbons and yearn for special-olympian treatment for all? The confidence in me insists I wouldn't.

I will crash and cry but I will not crawl and cringe. Give me your sincerity and keep your approval. I don't need, want or ask for it. If you want mine, you're already out of luck."

"These are strays. These are dogs who have lost their way home when the rains came."




Ummmm, yeah. I guess 3AM is an intense time for me. I spared you most of it.

I guess I felt like I should put something on here, document something, with a little soul for once. It can't all be good advice and playlists, right?

Elephant

I haven't been writing this week. There's an elephant in the room I couldn't bring myself to write about, and writing about something else felt cheap.

I have a friend. I met him in elementary school where he got me into comic books and we played X-Men on the jungle gym. He loved the superheroes he read about, and I couldn't help but try to be like him and learn all I could about these super-powered characters. He was the toughest kid I knew, but in a build-a-tree-fort way, not a bully or jock way.

He grew up and put his super powers to good use. He became a Corpsman. Basically, he was a Marine Medic - a navy-trained medic attached to a Marine unit.

Last week he was injured in the line of duty. He was hurt bad. I am having trouble thinking about anything besides him, his family and his recovery.

He has accomplished something remarkable. He has become one of the heroes we read about and pretended to be so long ago. There's no more pretending, and no more games - he gave me heroes as a kid and now he is my hero. Thank you.

Thursday Taste Lesson

So I've done my beefing with the green movement recently, so I wanted to give you some of my favorite green characters. First up, the forgotten benefactor of humanity, Norman Borlaug.



Best Dude Ever

That there's a link to his Wiki page. This fella here used his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics to develop disease resistant strains of high yield crops in third world countries. People have said that his work has saved ONE BILLION lives. One billion. How many you got, Al Gore

Another favorite of mine, Julian Simon, the Doom Slayer


Ok enough green. Here's some other awesome stuff.




An awesome magazine. One of three I subscribe to along with Wired and Dwell. I recommend all three!



Another George Saunders collection I enjoyed. Just finished it last night. Not quite as good as Civilwarland in bad Decline, but a quick, enjoyable read none the less.





Geekologie, one of the few blogs I check daily.


Well that's it. Enjoy my recommendations and become a better person for them. You're welcome.

Gimme some GAFABPs for tomorrow!

Getting real.

I can make jokes about the oil spill, but it truly is a massive tragedy and systemic problem. This is typically a funny (shut up, it is) blog - but I can also get real.

BP is taking a massive hit for this. They are being blamed and boycotted for this oil spill. For good reason, but they are far from alone in terms of blame. This event did not happen in a vacuum.

My solution to this problem is, somewhat paradoxically, more drilling. BP's oil rig was drilling in 5000+ feet of water. A relatively new frontier for oil drilling. The fact that this is a deep water leak is the primary problem. The reason this spill is so hard to stop and contain is that it is under a mile of water. Maybe, if things had gone differently, it shouldn't be.

Oil companies have been forced further offshore and into deeper waters. Environmentalists will point to this as reason the oil must be drilled further from the coast, when in fact, they are the reason it is being done this way. Environmentalists pushed for safe zones close to coasts and cried foul over drilling in Alaska.

This oil spill would not have happened in 1000 feet of water. This oil spill would not have happened in Alaska. I am not blaming environmentalists for this spill, but perhaps their logic needs to be examined. Maybe their moralist crusade, making up in shrillness what it lacks in logic, needs to be curtailed. Maybe we need a more scientific and reasonable debate when it comes to these "green" concerns.

The environment is a problem. The environmental problems need to be fixed. This religious fervor and dogmatic guilt party is not the way. If we could have a reasonable discourse in this field, perhaps logic would win the day and we wouldn't have small problems overtake big problems and avoid catastrophes like this in the future.

More drilling, more nuclear power. We can do this safely and productively.