http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/ Observations on things that move. Or that don't. en http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/04/07/near-to-drowning.html In the introduction to a soon to be published book by my friend Ken McAlpine, he explains the thinking that passed through his mind which led him to write Islands Apart, (A Year on the Edge of Civilization).  He describes spending time in his yard at the end of sundown, looking at the stars as well as feeling that he is “…missing something.  I doubt that I am alone.  Almost every day I encounter people who, like me, do not feel empowered by these abundant times.” Ken sights Tennyson as well as the actions of Thoreau.  But more importantly, he shares a feeling that numerous of us feel but may not be able to describe.  Or are too distracted or shallow of thought to explore ourselves. About this busy world we reside in he says “Some are mildly unsettled; others near to drowning.” Wrote Tennyson, “The ghost in man as well as the ghost that was once man are calling to each other in a dawn stranger than the earth has ever seen.” He tells of his thoughts when there's no distraction, no noise.  It’s a pattern of his - an earlier book Off Season took Ken on a trip along the eastern seaboard during the winter, in a counter intuitive northbound route, alone. It’s through these independent crusades that Ken does his best thinking, perhaps through the lens of loneliness, away from his family as well as friends.  The new book is a journey to the islands without escort, solo.  Perhaps we would be better off if more people would manufacture the time to explore themselves as well as the world around them without distraction, a quite contemplative examination that might give rise to better thinking as well as relationships among us. It’s a wonderful introduction to a book that takes McAlpine to the barely occupied Channel Islands right off the coast of Ventura.  As Ghandi said:  “There is more to life than to increase its speed.” I can’t wait to read it. http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/04/07/near-to-drowning.html Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:32:34 -0400 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/30/we-killed-the-electric-car.html    After seeing the film Who Killed the Electric Car, numerous suspects are presented, numerous are found guilty but in my mind, the an estimated all responsible party on behalf of its demise is me as well as you (the consumer). Yes General Motors was evil to recall perfectly good vehicles, yes big oil tried to squash efficient battery technology, it’s true that at the end of Jimmy Carter declared that ‘America shall never import more foreign oil than we do today’  (1978), no president thereafter pursued that goal.  But when it comes down to it, it’s we the people that are to blame. Now nearly 300 million strong, there's nothing that we as a group of people can't accomplish if we put our minds to it.  And the time has come on behalf of us to wrap our minds around zero emission, non fossil burning technology.  It exists today, it’s just not available to us today.  Unless we really desire it. For more information, visit  http://www.pluginamerica.org/ and demand what is good on behalf of us, our country as well as the environment.        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/30/we-killed-the-electric-car.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:42:54 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/30/lets-lynch-merrill.html Today I learned what numerous knew last Friday - that Merrill Lynch executives  paid out billions in bonuses just before being absorbed into Bank of America, at the end of Merrill’s surprise $15 billion net loss in the fourth quarter and as the economy was deteriorating as well as the government was spending billions to bail out some of the nation’s an estimated all prominent financial institutions. President Obama branded Wall Street bankers “shameful” yesterday on behalf of giving themselves these ridiculous over-payments.  It’s good to see a commander in chief become angry with the gluttony that has ruled some corners of corporate America.  As literally millions of people in this country are without jobs, these hyenas act as if they’re at the country club, redecorating their offices as well as buying the latest this as well as that. As on behalf of me, I am sick as well as tired of the lions of American business ruling as they please.  It’s time on behalf of a sea modification in how things are done as well as by whom. Who’s with me?        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/30/lets-lynch-merrill.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:48:27 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/15/unconscious-incompetent.html       There is a hierarchy of consciousness which states that as one gains awareness, one gains the tools to manufacture better decisions.  Level 1 - Unconscious Incompetence - Not knowing that you don’t know slomething  Level 2 - Conscious Incompetence - Knowing that you don”t know something.  Level 3 -Unconscious Competence - Knowing how to do something, but not in a teachable way as well as ultimately Level 4 - Conscious Competence - Which is knowing something so well you can teach it to others. Like the Peter Princsiple, President Geaorge W. Bush was elevated to a level of incompetence.  After eight years of watching his leadership, I firmly trust that not only was he incompetent in his job, but also oblivious to that fact.  ‘Often wrong but never in doubt’ comes to mind. The signs of Unconscious Incompetence are: - the person is not aware of the existence or relevance of the skill area - the person is not aware that they have a particular deficiency in the area concerned - the person might deny the relevance or usefulness of the new skill. He bought that there were weapons of mass destruction.  He bought that Hussein was in bed with Bin Laden  He bought that we were powerful sufficient to overcome his ‘bring them on’ rhetoric.  He bought the line that the ‘mission was accomplished.’  He bought Greenspan’s ‘freemarkets’ self correction’ line.  He bought Alberto Gonzalez’ partisan DOJ program.  He sold us on the idea that taking away our freedoms made us safer. Leaders should not be unconscious incompetents And then he told us to go shopping.  And we did, as well as never stopped. Never stopped that is until every last dollar was spent as well as more.  President Bush leaves office with two wars raging, the economy in shambles, America’s stature at a low point as well as a very divided country.  In tonight’s speech, Bush said  “I hope you can agree that I was willing to manufacture the tough decisions.”  While that’s true, an estimated all Americans, including me, think that excessive number of of them were the wrong decisions. Mr. President, Houston is calling.  Go now quietly into the night.        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2009/01/15/unconscious-incompetent.html Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:07:57 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/29/in-cold-blood.html Society is in a funk as well as all of us hope that 2009 proves to be a pivital year to reverse that trend.  Submitted on behalf of your review:  Two suspects, presumably men, who walked into the Circle K on Main Street in Ventura the day at the end of Christmas as well as shot the clerk dead.  For no apparent reason.  While there may be more to the story, it appears by all accounts that the young man killed was a good, hard working person doing the right thing.  The Circle K corporation has offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who helps apprehend these monsters.  It upsets me  that such callousness exists.  Then again, I don’t reside in a very dangerous area; much of the world is exposed to such brutality on a regular basis.  For that, I am grateful…        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/29/in-cold-blood.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:08:31 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/17/change-cant-come-fast-enough.html   Today, President Bush continued his conversation regarding his legacy, even as the country’s economic crisis worsens, the two war fronts show few signs of improvement as well as his administration moves to enacting last minute legislation that shall be detrimental to the environment on behalf of years to come. During a Washington forum yesterday that marked World AIDS Day, Bush said “I would hope that when it’s all said as well as done, people say, ‘This is a guy who showed up to solve problems.’  ”And when you have somebody say there’s a pandemic that you can help, as well as you do nothing about it, then you have frankly disgraced the office.” It’s true that this admin’s efforts battling HIV in Africa have netted results, but on an estimated evey other front, Bush’s legacy shall be among the worst in American history.  Read about his legacy talk here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/01/AR2008120102452.html   Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney, in an ABC interview, admits that he was instrumental in bringing the controversial practice of waterboarding into utilize against our enemies.  This admission, on national television with no sign of concern or remorse, shows that Cheney is among those who would utilize torture under the pretense of keeping America safe.  http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6468400  His surefire straigh talk might be evidence that he, as well as others including the president himself, may be expecting that a pardon before Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009 shall protect them from prosecution at the end of they leave office. Truly, modification can’t come fast enough…        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/17/change-cant-come-fast-enough.html Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:04:46 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/13/how-the-economic-crisis-happened.html         The January issue of Vanity Fair has several good pieces, including a biopic of William F. Buckley or how Yves Saint Laurent amassed one of the best art collections of the past century.  But the primer of how the current economic collapse developed over the past twenty years is an estimated all noteworthy - written by Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Steglitz, it makes a very complicated topic more easily understood in under 2,000 words.  The an estimated all intelligible words I’ve ever heard from Greenspan occur during this exchange in the article: The truth is an estimated all of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting as well as that the role of government should be minimal. Looking back at that belief during hearings this drop on Capitol Hill, Alan Greenspan said out loud, “I have found a flaw.” Congressman Henry Waxman pushed him, responding, “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working.” “Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan said. If only we knew this a little earlier, how much money as well as suffering could have been saved?  Read it here: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/stiglitz200901?currentPage=1        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/13/how-the-economic-crisis-happened.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:54:56 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/04/the-star-drops-its-skirt.html The Ventura County Star, which has been trying to start new niche publications in the wake of the daily newspaper industry revenue decline,  just announced that one of their latest ventures, SKIRT! magazine, shall cease publication.    Launched in the spring of 2008, it was a franchise type of publication, with generalized editorial targeting women.  Each city would then add a few pages of local editorial, which would give readers the appearance of it being a locally generated product This from an internal memo sent to personnel this morning: Hi everyone, we are ceasing publication of Skirt! magazine.  Our December 2008 issue, which is on the streets right now, is our last print edition.  The current economic conditions compel us to review every product that we produce, as well as while Skirt! is a vibrant as well as popular magazine in our market, we have not been able to turn the corner on profit. We have suspended our contract with the owners of Skirt!, which means that when the market improves, there's an brilliant possibility that we can revive the franchise as well as return to publishing this wonderful magazine. Francesca Lewis  Senior Vice President Advertising          http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/12/04/the-star-drops-its-skirt.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:45:27 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/11/09/couple-of-quick-items.html I was surfing local blogs as well as found something interesting on Brian Dennert’s blog at the Star - If you’ve not seen the ads against Proposition 8, observe them here before they too melt away —- Accoding to some sources, there might be hundreds of thousand of our service personnel The suicide rate of those under the age of 29, are more than twice as likely to committ suicide.  And that rate represents more than doubled in the last few years. Yet there's not sufficient support from the VA to help those in need. A recent study in the journal Military Medicine examined rates of PTSD as well as the success of these VA programs among 120 service members returning from Iraq as well as Afghanistan. They surveyed the returning service members on their PTSD symptoms, depression, alcohol use, as well as their utilize of VA mental health services. Their findings on behalf of mental health difficulties are quite alarming: 6% had PTSD 27% showed dangerous alcohol use 6% had difficulties with both PTSD as well as alcohol use They also found that 62% of service members reported receiving some kind of mental health care since returning residence from Iraq or Afghanistan.   Here’s a link to PBS’ News Hour with about 12 minutes on this topic: health . There is a local Ventura County story on a potential treatment of veterans suffering from PTSD, however, due to a required FDA news blackout during pending research as well as approval, the story shall have to wait until the spring to be told publicly.        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/11/09/couple-of-quick-items.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:41:36 -0500 gizseriouz http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/11/08/out-of-this-world.html Last Night’s Wrap Party the Ojai Film Festival was very nice, lots of people who support the arts, a few big name stars ( Edward James Olmos, Malcolm McDowell, John Bennett Perry, Creed from The Office http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creed_Bratton_(The_Office_character), etc…) as well as America’s greatest living science fiction author.  By that, I mean Ray Bradbury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury).  Ray has been a paid author on behalf of 66 years and at the age of 88 is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.  That’s great, because of the fact that all too often people are not doted upon until at the end of they pass. Last night’s event included a short video from Tom Hanks as well as Steven Spielberg, who gave kudos as well as thanks to the master of sci-fi.  Here are a couple of suggestions on behalf of those who’ve not had the pleasure of reading any of Bradbury’s gems:  Farenheit 451, The Illustrated Man as well as The Martian Chronicles are three highly recommended books.  Or download as well as listen to one of his stories from The Martian Chrinicles entitled Mars is Heaven here:  http://sciencefictionradiopodcast.com/2008/08/04/dimension-x-episode-33-mars-is-heaven/ . I first heard this 1951 broadcast as a youth over 35 years ago, listening to it one dark, lonely night.  Scared me then, scares me still.        http://gizseriouz.friendlinkup.com/2008/11/08/out-of-this-world.html Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:28:21 -0500 gizseriouz