My life has been hectic lately…er, by “lately” I mean for like the past two years or something…actually, when has my life not been hectic..? When I was in the womb? More accurately, my life has been hectic lately in ways that have prompted me into intense rounds of self-analysis and discovery.
When I’m feeling cool about this, I imagine myself as a butterfly still trapped in her cocoon–I was a worthy caterpillar! but further journeys of transformation, to always more accurately perceive the world around me and do with my life what is truly the worthiest and best use I can put to it, called me out of my more comfortable form. The process has been painful and destructive in many ways, but the end result will be more than worth it.
When I am NOT feeling cool about this, I want to kick my own ass around the block for not appreciating what I had prior to all this upheaval anywhere near as much as I ought and also wonder why I am clearly one of those people who just has to pee on the electric fence for herself to learn some of life’s lessons. This is when I ponder the conundrum that is intelligence versus wisdom, and why one doesn’t automatically lead to the other–
The reason I bring all of this up is that it is partly to blame for why I have mostly ceased blogging–I have lost the surety of my convictions in too many areas that I used to blog so confidently about. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to suppose that nobody’s too interested in reading me express meandering thoughts that go nowhere. (The other reasons were that for several months I was unable to sit for any length of time at a computer due to a very stupid back problem that was happily surgically resolved a few months ago, and that when I do sit at the computer, I am either working on changing my employment status from “couch potato” to “salaried” or I am slowly refinding my way back into my fiction writing.) BUT, based upon encouragement from my fellow absentee blogger Quin, I have decided to at least attempt to get back into the blogging saddle. I do kinda miss it, you know. Nothing like getting to exercise a pithy clever phrase or twenty while also expounding upon matters that are very close to the heart!
But I am going to start slowly, because as I said, oftentimes nowadays, I find myself not only unsure of what I want to say, but even that I want to say it. So I will simply present a handful of fleeting impressions from last week…passing thoughts and observations…and see how that pans out.
Name: Olivia Munn
Indifference level (mine, anyway): medium-high
Synopsis: I had never heard of her before The Daily Show dustup. I had and still have no opinion about the sexism or lack thereof of The Daily Show’s hiring process–to me, they certainly don’t seem to have less women running around than any other show, but then again, the amount of attention I pay to TV shows in general could be measured by a thimble. However, I did find this distasteful enough that I am disinclined to check her out on The Daily Show anytime soon:
“I never tried to use anything besides my own sweat and blood and talent to get somewhere. I think that anyone who’s out there trying to bring down why any woman would get anywhere, or why we’re different, just needs to f**king turn her f**king computer off, take the sandwich out of her mouth and go for a goddamn f**king walk. You know what? Just walk it off, bitch. Just walk it off, bitch.”
Yes, Olivia, my concerns aren’t really about sexism in hiring practices. Really, I’m just jealous because you are so, so hot. Yes, that must be it. That’s why I complain about Sarah Palin, too, because she is hot and I only wish I was hot like her. And you. Being hot is so, so, so…cool! Yes, that’s IT! And I also wish I was married again, because it’s been almost a whole year since I was last married and I think I’m having withdrawal symptoms–
(ahem)
Anyway, next:
Name: Mark Williams, right-wing radio talk show dude and spokesperson for the Tea Party Express, whateverthehell that is (I had to look it up)
Amazement at sheer chutzpah level: Stratospheric
(addendum: amazement that he got shunned by his homies in the fallout: Stratospheric, but in a good way this time)
Synopsis:I mean, did you read the thing he wrote..? It’s hard for me to believe he was actually trying to rebutt the NAACP’s resolution condemning Tea Party racism. Honestly, about the only thing he could have done that would have been more of a statement of “Damn right niggaz, we ARE racist and here’s why!” would have been to, well, just say “Damn right niggaz etc. etc!”
Name: BP’s Gulf oil spewing madness
My personal ability to do anything about it: nonexistent
My faith in the likely success of BP’s latest attempt to cap it: nonexistent
Synopsis:It’s gross and not entirely unexpected and I’m sorry for it, but mostly I find myself still wondering why people object so strenuously to nuclear power. Anybody out there have strong feelings on the subject..? If so, feel free to share them with me.
Updated to add: What I should’ve said was, anybody out there have strong feelings on the subject whose opinions on it are based on actual fact as opposed to not having a clue what they’re talking about? In other words, if you think nuclear reactor waste remains toxic for 4 billion years, or you think that fission or thermonuclear bombs are made out of nuclear reactor waste, or you don’t know that petroleum as fuel and petroleum products are both extensively used to make weapons, you are not being asked to comment. As a matter of fact, you are being asked not to comment. Thank you!–The Management
Nuclear power produces byproducts that are toxic for literally longer than the Earth has already existed, and which are used in heinous, heinous weapons that have been responsible for thousands upon thousands of horrifying birth defects. That’s my objection.
Well, someone could have asked me to clarify or stated disagreement rather than what she did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
Check out the sections on “military applications” and “health considerations.”
Finally, did I come off hostile? If so, I apologize; it was not my intention, but I should have taken more care. If I didn’t, is there a reason for the way you responded?
There really is no need to ask someone to clarify the statement: “Nuclear power produces byproducts that are toxic for literally longer than the Earth has already existed,” because it is not ambiguous in the slightest. It does, however, show an impressive lack of knowledge about nuclear plant waste, and I truly don’t want to waste my time discussing any topic with anyone who is utterly ignorant about said topic. My response was designed to make such responders go away as quickly as possible. Sadly, I see it did not work.
Your response was designed to be maximally shitty, and it did in fact work. I apologize for reading your blog and attempting to have a conversation.
No need to apologize; just go away and don’t come back til you’ve learned something about the topic you want to discuss. Then you’ll be welcomed with open arms.
So you’d rather we had had a historic nuclear-plant explosion back in April, instead of the historic oil-well explosion we actually did have?
I mean I’d be happier if we’d gone nuclear back when I was a kid, too, but choosing a different method of power generation doesn’t seem to me all that likely to solve the problems with the power generation *industry*.
Ethan, you ride the bus to work every day and I’m supposed to listen to you clutch your pearls about *nuclear* waste? We’re all collaborators, but you don’t have to be such a fucking public hypocrite about it.
Why would we have had a historic nuclear-plant explosion? I mean, way back in the day we had Three Mile Island have a “meltdown”. For caution’s sake, they evacuated the area. There was ZERO radiation leak. 3 Mile Island demonstrates redundant safety features work.
So, I wonder why people think it’s “OMG, destroyer of worlds”.
Antigone, you’ve got a point when it comes to Three Mile Island, but I’m thinking about Chernobyl, which as best I can tell was largely the result of operator error.
The point that I’m trying to make is that it doesn’t matter *what* generation technology we use, if we’ve got people in charge of it who only break their single-minded focus on profit maximization in order to get in a good old-fashioned fuckup every now and again. Until we figure out a way to address that problem, I don’t see much value in deciding to take one set of highly dangerous toys away from these fools, only to provide them another.
(And “OMG destroyer of worlds”? Seriously? Did I not just get done saying I’d rather we *had* gone nuclear back last time anyone was seriously talking about it? I’m not superstitious; I’m cynical.)
Concerns about nuclear waste storage and the extremely high facility construction and startup costs are legitimate, so far as I can tell from the mild amount of research I’ve done on the topic. Concerns about companies that cut safety margins in the name of profit and/or indifference (BP ::cough cough:: BP) are clearly also legitimate…that’s probably the most difficult concern to address effectively, unfortunately.
You know, on reflection, I’m half-tempted to think that even a BP-caused nuclear accident on the scale of Chernobyl wouldn’t have been as bad as what they’ve actually given us. I mean, Chernobyl at least was on land.
@Aaron
When I was in my human factors, we learned about a thing called an “error chain”. Basically, it’s one fuck up MAY break the whole thing, but it’s probably a series of fuck-ups that cause the whole thing tumbling down (In aviation, it’s normally two small mistakes and one large one- moderate weather, sleepy pilot, and plane breaking are generally the cluster. One you recover from, all three is bad). This was also the case at Chernobyl. It was operator error- it was also government error for sending someone nearly patently unqualified, and it was also they skimped on the materials and it was also that they did not have redundant safety features.
There is a high amount of start up costs. But in return, you get a LOT of energy after that with smaller than oil maintenance costs.