Globber Shmlobber

"Along with all of the other rising inequalities we’ve become so familiar with — in income, in..."

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 01:29:58 -0700

“Along with all of the other rising inequalities we’ve become so familiar with — in income, in wealth, in access to politicians — we confront now a fundamental inequality of accountability. We can have a just society whose guiding ethos is accountability and punishment, where both black kids dealing weed in Harlem and investment bankers peddling fraudulent securities on Wall Street are forced to pay for their crimes, or we can have a just society whose guiding ethos is forgiveness and second chances, one in which both Wall Street banks and foreclosed households are bailed out, in which both inside traders and street felons are allowed to rejoin polite society with the full privileges of citizenship intact. But we cannot have a just society that applies the principle of accountability to the powerless and the principle of forgiveness to the powerful. This is the America in which we currently reside.”

- Chris Hayes (via azspot)

when tumblr has the EXCAT gif I was looking for :D

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:42:00 -0700

when tumblr has the EXCAT gif I was looking for :D

Titles With Profanity ...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:13:00 -0700

Are good attention grabbers, good job publishing companies. But they aren’t the reason I started reading Skinny Bitch. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Skinny Bitch diet, it was pretty popular when it first came out and the book is still selling pretty well (via Amazon at least). My friend picked it up and told me to read it. Being the follower, I mean amazing friend, that I am I did just that and now I can’t eat meat. Or won’t.

The book talks about a lot of reasons you shouldn’t eat meat:

Animal protein is bad for you
There are all kinds of chemicals and pesticides in the meat these days
Slaughter houses and meat factories are hell on earth

basic stuff. Even after reading this I really don’t think eating meat is bad, if you eat it sparingly and it’s legitimately organic. Unfortunately, the meat industry and agency’s that are supposed to be regulating the meat industry are a bunch of assholes who care more about profit than our health or the treatment of animals. If I could trust that the meat I’m eating was truly organic and the cow that became the steak on plate had a healthy life I wouldn’t mind the occasional burger or taco (mmmm taco) but alas it seems I would have to buy my own farm and raise the animals myself to make sure that was the case.

Although the book doesn’t get into this as much I’m sure the way produce is grown isn’t much better (what with pesticides, genetically modified food, unreliable regulation industries and such), but since I have to eat to live and rely on others to grow my food a plant based diet is the way I’m going.

The book promotes a vegan lifestyle. I don’t think I can be a true vegan, but I’m going to try anyway. There are a lot of alternative vegan foods on the market today so that is going to be a big help. Also the fact that my best friend is also trying to go vegan will provide me with the support necessary outside my home. At this point I can’t give up dairy ‘cus I live with my family and I can’t be asking my parents to buy soy milk or almond milk just for me when we can barely afford the food we have now and god knows no one is turning my father vegan.

To be honest even if I could I don’t think I could fully give up dairy. I love ice cream too much and cheese is just so awesome and See’s chocolate and basically dairy is just the best. I really don’t care if it doesn’t make sense that we drink another animal’s milk. What does bother me is the big business of it all. Milk and meat are things that wouldn’t matter if we ate them sparingly. But we live in a society where the dairy and meat industry want to shove as much of their product down our gullet as they can to turn a profit.

So basically I’m going vegan-ish as a stand against these industries. Because really that’s the only way I would succeed in such a dramatic change in life style. My natural contrary attitude will be my beam of light. Whenever I wanna reach for a hot dog or precious precious bacon I’ll think of the profiteering douche bags in charge of these industries and eat a mango instead (locally grown if possible).

rynnay: perplexingly: My favourite tragic love story is that...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:17:31 -0700

rynnay:

perplexingly:

My favourite tragic love story is that of an artist and their art

Someone’s been spying on me again

so much truth

Photo

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:54:51 -0700

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Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:54:12 -0700

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Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:53:56 -0700

A Blog About a Podcast

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:57:00 -0700

Let me start off by saying that I just started listening to This American Life on Tuesday.

**Note: these next two paragraphs are tangent-y

I had hear about it a few months back maybe even many months back; whenever Ira Glass first appeared on Conan, or maybe I heard his name in a song idk, but it was a while ago. I checked out the web page real quick one day before bed and thought, “oh that’s cool, I’ll check it out some time,” and then proceeded with life thinking about it every now and then and thinking it probably wasn’t even that good. Cut to last weekend when I finally saw Sleep Walk With Me (something else I had put off seeing after seeing a promo for it on Conan) and loved it. Then a few days later I was on YouTube for whatever reason (I’m sure some other Conan related reason, or SNL actually) and whatever I was checking out led me to a really great Parks and Rec Google talks interview which then led me to a Google talk with Ira Glass and Mike Birbiglia (ha! spelled his name right on the first try, one bonus point for me) talking about their work on Sleep Walk With Me, which I didn’t know they had worked on together.

Towards the end of the interview they mention some youtube clips of Ira Glass talking about how to tell an interesting story. So I checked that out too and thought, “OK this guy seems legit I guess I’ll check out his site.” Next thing I know it’s four in the morning and I’ve listened to not enough of the episodes.

So today after catching up on Conan I decided to check out more of the “episodes” on the This American Life web archive. One episode really struck me, well they all did if I’m being honest here, but I want to address one in particular. This episode of This American Life is a retraction of a story they did early in 2012. It was about working conditions in Apple factories in China, which isn’t the reason I’m writing, although I do find the topic important because I believe in fair and, most importantly, safe working conditions. Also, I love Macs and I want the products I use to come from responsible companies, so double the reason why this subject is important to me. But what struck me about the piece was the main story about the retraction and why they had to do it.

It turns out the the original story they did was about this guy, Mike Daisey. Daisey had come on, presumably, to promote this theatrical monologue he was doing about a trip he took to China where he went to factories under cover as a business man to check out their working conditions. I’m not sure if he went to factories of different companies or specifically to those that made Apple products, but from what I got from the interview and given the fact that Apple is the only company mentioned, I’m pretty sure that was the case. Also, I didn’t listen to the original story because it has been removed from the archives and I’m too lazy to read the transcripts. There were clips of the original interview in the retraction so, really, there was no need to read the transcripts.

So Daisey is there to tell the story and he tells it like everything that he claims happened on the trip is true. Keep in mind that he goes on public radio and does a show that tells stories in a journalistic manner. I mean they fact check all their stories and present them as truthfully as possible. So he goes in promoting his story as fact.

Turns out, it’s not so much.

I mean yea there were elements of it that were true and I guess maybe the thesis of it was true, that working conditions in factories in China that make Apple products are not the best and need improvement. But the anecdotes he presents are embellished or completely fabricated.

I don’t have a problem with embellishing a story, especially if it is presented as an art piece in a theater where I know that there are exaggerations. Like when I go watch historical dramas. I know that the facts have been stretched out for entertainment purposes. But that’s the point, that I know. I am aware that there are lies in the story. This guy went on a show that focuses on the truth and lied. He presented the story as journalism. The retraction made this clear and I think This American Life did a great job of doing so. Not only did they find out the truth but they acknowledged their own mistakes.

Now we get to the real point of this post, which is lying and being caught in a lie. When this guy was caught and confronted with the fact that they knew he had lied his reaction really resonated with me. I’m one of those people who can’t really lie. Not because I can’t get away with it but because just the thought of lying makes me sick to my stomach. It is the worst feeling to me. I mean even if it’s some small lie that people won’t care about, like why I was late or something, contemplating a lie makes me feel horrible.

Hearing about this guy who told a giant lie to a bunch of people and risked his reputation was beyond my grasp. I mean logically it would just seem like the thing to do is to be honest. Telling people it was an art piece isn’t that difficult. When asked why he didn’t just tell the truth to Glass and the producers of This American Life what I got form his answer was that he panicked. In that moment of panic he made a mistake and he left it to them to catch it and corrected for him. Which I guess when we tell a big lie is what we want to happen, especially if it’s one we wish we hadn’t told but are too embarrassed or proud or sure there might be a chance we can get away with to admit.

The other thing is that he states that it was a art piece and yet he promoted it as fact not just on This American Life but everywhere.

Anyway I think you guys should listen to it. It’s a really great piece. I love the way This American Life approached it. It makes me love journalism, like real journalism. It isn’t 24/7-gotta-fill-the-air-waves-for-profit type of thing.

rideawhiteswan: “What nobody tells people who are beginners — Read More

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:06:28 -0700

rideawhiteswan:

“What nobody tells people who are beginners —

Read More

elijahfeathers: gourmandghast: mirisha: constructofconcience: ...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:00:29 -0800

elijahfeathers:

gourmandghast:

mirisha:

constructofconcience:

I actually sort of needed this

Even slow progress is progress.

Truth.

Reminder to myself when I try new things

"I have the toes I have. Let’s just leave it at that."

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:51:52 -0800

“I have the toes I have. Let’s just leave it at that.”

- Ron Swanson

azspot: xkcd: Time Robot

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:29:22 -0800

azspot:

xkcd: Time Robot

"…a thing may be looked at tragically and turned to a torment, or looked at quite simply, and..."

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:07:22 -0800

“…a thing may be looked at tragically and turned to a torment, or looked at quite simply, and even gaily.
”

- Princess Betsy Tverskaya (Anna Karenina III, 18)

Photo

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:52:57 -0800

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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:38:45 -0800

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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:23:38 -0800

"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any..."

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:58:31 -0800

“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”

- President Franklin Roosevelt (via azspot)

Simpson Quotes

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:06:01 -0800

Homer: Got any of that beer that has candy floating in it? You know, Skittlebrau?
Apu: Such a beer does not exist, sir. I think you must have dreamed it.
Homer: Oh. Well, then just give me a six-pack and a couple of bags of Skittles.

Rants are ever so liberating

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:16:21 -0800

Whats wrong with movies about aliens? Whenever I read movie reviews that criticize a badly executed movie I’m finding that they seem to blame the use of aliens in the film (if aliens are indeed used). It’s as though unless the film is set decades in the future aliens are a stupid plot device. Yet the use of zombies and vampires is completely fine? Are they more realistic than aliens? Is their human form more appealing? The logic isn’t apparent to me. I get criticizing a badly written, directed, or cast movie but criticizing a movie based on the fact that they use beings not from this planet as though they are taboo is (for the annoying lack of better words) biased and irritating.

"For a time I was depressed. But little by little my confidence came back and I realized that the..."

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:10:16 -0800

“For a time I was depressed. But little by little my confidence came back and I realized that the wonder is not that conditions are so bad, but that society has advanced so far in spite of them. And now I am in the fight to change things.”

- Helen Keller (via azspot)