Monday, August 23, 2010

Disney Corrupts Girls

It's true. Disney corrupts when it comes to leading men in the classic Disney films. Think back to all the Disney classics like "Alladin", "Beauty and the Beast", "Little Mermaid", "Cinderella", "Speed 2: Cruise Control"...well..maybe not the last one, but same basic idea. These movies corrupt girls because they view these films as if they are the way society operates when it comes to relationships. It's full of these perfect leading men with little flaws which in the real world wouldn't even be considered flaws. They've got the perfect build, perfect smile, teeth, they're tan, funny, rich, and respected. How common is it to find these traits in real world men today? Not even 1 percent. I guarantee if they have these traits there's a 99% chance they're a jerk.

When women find this type of guy and wonder why it didn't work out, they're surprised. Well they shouldn't be surprised but I think we have Disney to blame. Girls know in the back of their minds the difference between a fairy tale movie but they can't help but keep their hopes up and so they walk around with standards at what I call a "Disney Standard" and they will end up single for the rest of their lives or searching for a long long time.

Let me lay down the line of reality. Stop searching for that guy in your favorite Disney movie and wake up. Lower your standards because I bet you're no princess Jasmine anyway. Idiot.

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Arizona Law

The new Arizona immigration law is the newest controversial topic making waves on the internet these days. The law will require police to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop and suspect is in the country illegally. It also makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers. Many say it is unconstitutional and leads to racial profiling.

Even when we throw terms out there like "illegal immigration," people don't seem to understand. Yes, the Arizona law is justified and what part of this term don't they get? Usually things that are illegal are not allowed, look it up. Imagine if murder were as lenient as illegal immigration, we would need to install more graveyards. What part of the word "illegal" don't you understand?

It seems a majority of the people complaining are the ones guilty of being illegal immigrants. That's a no brainer! What amazes me is how outraged these people are over doing something illegal. Please try to argue with that, because I promise you can't. Tell me what illegal means to you. At the same time, there are immigrants who have done what they were suppose to; they did all the paperwork, they took the tests, and went through the whole process of making themselves legal immigrants. That is how you do it, just make it legal. Don't hop the fence and then complain when we shun you. Make it legal, like millions of other people.

Let's say you get up in the morning and you go downstairs and see a complete stranger standing in your kitchen. This stranger is eating your breakfast.
"What the hell are you doing?" you say. They respond, "Hi, I'm going to be living here now, I'm going to be eating your food and you are going to pay for it." What would you say? Would you say "Okay, no problem, welcome to my home." Or do you say, "No, get the fuck out of my house and if you want something from me, knock first!" What are you going to say? If you're a person that randomly welcomes people into your house that eats all your food and you bend over backwards, then please send me your address because I'd love to come live with you.

It's common sense. If you're here legally, that's fine, you did the grunt work of getting something you wanted. If not, then go home or make it legal.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

You Will Die Early

Take a look at the news articles on any site like Yahoo and you will likely see a heading pertaining to a new study. Some of these studies show reasonable common sense things. For example, studies show drinking too much gasoline will kill you. It may be surprising, but it's true! Thank you to whoever performed that study because it saved my life. On the flip side, there's been many recent studies about little things that will kill you faster than if you didn't do them.

As a matter of fact, I came across a study that said 'sitting down' will increase your chance of dying by a certain percentage. Oh no! People of Earth, stand up or die! Ok, I'm sure it's agreed that sitting down in front of a television for a prolonged period of time isn't good for you. Suddenly they throw in words like "increase, death and percentage" and fear strikes among the nation and soon, nobody is sitting down. Chair manufacturers will go out of business. There will be no more furniture stores and worst of all, we have to stand up to poop. Squatting is as close as we come to sitting down anymore, or face death. Look out.

The latest study has come out with the headline "Being bored could be bad for your health." The very first line reads, "In a commentary to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in April, experts say there's a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early." Well that sure grabbed my attention. I see the words "experts, bored, die," and that scares me. Back in the old days, I used to be afraid of getting hit by cars, skin cancer, or being shot and killed by gang members, but now that I've got 'sitting' and 'boredom' to worry about, I don't know how I made it this far, good riddance. It seems we can't do anything these days without running the risk of dying early.

So there we have it, these studies have warned the world of the dangers of sitting and being bored. Now we're all running around while singing. Today, I attached my computer to my treadmill and made sure that if I got bored I would start a fight with the person nearest to me so that my brain would be occupied and body filled with adrenaline. Life is much safer now. Thank you studies!

Other studies have shown that blogging can contribute to cutting your life in half, so I'm out!

Friday, January 15, 2010

My Perfect President

I don't understand why anybody would want to be the president of the United States but I suppose somebody's got to do it. Here's my checklist for what would make the perfect president.

1. Intelligent, they will know something about everything and everything about something.

2. Strong and full of common sense.

3. Neither declared democrat or republican, they base their decisions on the issues; not the positions of a specific party.

4. Not religious, but spiritual with a high respect and passion for human life.

5. Doesn't use teleprompters, they speak from the heart. It may not always come out smooth but it sounds more human rather than just reading something someone else wrote.

6. A strong sense of humor. They will know when and how to be funny.

7. Will volunteer to fight any terrorist leader hand to hand. It will be an arranged fight at a special location where terrorist leaders and world leaders duke out their differences. Sparing the lives of thousands of troops.

8. They will admit their flaws and weaknesses because being able to admit a weakness is a strength.

9. Will show their anger sometimes. They will not always be polite to challengers, they will shout and put them in their place if it is called for. Like a mild Hitler only without concentration camps.


And that's what it takes to be the perfect president.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Angelina Jolie criticizes Obama?

Actress Angelina Jolie is pointing out that Obama is not acting on an issue she considers most important. She's not happy with how the Obama administration is handling the situation in Sudan with all the poverty and low quality of life in Darfur. "How is the Obama administration's approach to Sudan an evolution of justice?" she states. "In addition, when the administration says it intends to work to improve the lives of the people of Darfur, I would like to know what that means, besides the obvious point that their lives could hardly get worse." Well Angelina, sorry the president can't save the world. Join the rest of the club of people wanting Obama to save the world and make their lives oh so perfect. Doesn't it seem we have enough problems here in our own country to solve before we start worrying about Sudan?

This is the difference in mentality between the middle class and the super rich. It's their values. Angelina has so much money that she's bored and so she has to find something to do that she believes in and that happens to be adopting every poverty stricken child and trying to save the world in general. One baby at a time. This is probably Angelina's only concern in life. The lower and middle class here in America probably aren't as concerned about the lives of those in Sudan, they're worried about whether or not they can afford dinner next week for their family.

I don't think Obama is going to drop the hundreds of issues he's already dealing with to save Sudan. In fact, I have no idea what Obama is doing these days, but either way, depending on one man to tackle all issues in 2 years is not likely going to happen. My advice to Angelina Jolie: if you are so passionate about the people of Sudan then stop buying these $70 million castles in France or wherever and put that towards helping Sudan if you are so inclined to do so. Just because we may still be doing better than Sudan doesn't make us obligated to drop everything we're doing to help them, it's survival of the fittest, sad but true. As the saying goes, if you want something done, do it yourself. So with that said Angelina, sorry that saving Sudan wasn't on the top of the 'to do' list, but we'll get around to it eventually in 100 years. Besides, America has it's own problems to deal with like a failing economy, 10% unemployment rate and Mexican gangs.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Doubt is Humble

After being raised Christian in my early childhood, I converted back and forth between Christianity and my skeptical viewpoint. Religion is an ongoing debate but I want to focus more on the concept of "God" for now, not so much religion. I've come to the conclusion in recent days that people believe in God but they don't know of God, and there's a difference. The mysteries of the universe have yet to be solved and to say we know is only to say we hope we know.

For the last 5 years I've labeled myself a hardcore atheist. About a week ago, I decided I was agnostic. What changed my mind after 5 years of being set on my decision? Well, I have an open mind. If someone comes up with reasoning that is different to mine and it happens to make more logical sense than what I previously thought, then I accept the alternative viewpoint. The turning point in my perspective on "God" came from a follow up interview of the documentary "Religulous" created by Bill Maher, the host of "Real Time with Bill Maher." The documentary was very well done and had a lot of funny parts if you despise religion as much as I do.

Overall, the documentary was as I expected, very secular and I thought surely that someone that makes a film like this has to be an atheist. I was wrong. I searched youtube.com for a follow up interview on the film and Bill Maher stated he wasn't an atheist. He said in his interview he's not an atheist because atheism mirrors the certainty of Christianity. In other words, atheism is the certainty that there is no God as Christianity is the certainty that there is a God or divine creator. So, when it comes down to it, after you've preached what you supposedly know as fact, after all is said and done, at the end of the day, you really don't know. "How do I know you don't know?" Bill Maher asks, "Because I don't know..and you do not contain mental powers that I do not."

Bill Maher's documentary doesn't promote atheism or the disproving of God, he promotes doubt, as he states it, "Doubt is humble.." Try it. Atheism and religions like Christianity or Judaism are two different sides of the same coin. It's understandable when people have 'hope' of life after death and heaven and all that, but when they start preaching it as fact and anybody that's not a follower is wrong, that's when it becomes a problem.

Click here to watch the interview with Bill Maher.

When Bill Maher gave his reasoning for not being an atheist. I contemplated this idea for a couple months and then came to the conclusion. "Hey, wait a minute..I don't know either..in fact, nobody knows." There's a difference between what "is" and what you think "is" and since the origin of the universe is not understood and may never be understood completely; to say that you know is just arrogance. The best scientists and astronomers don't know and the religions don't know. All we have are theories, guesses and wacky ideas. Usually when something is fact, it is almost, if not, universally agreed. We all know the sun is pretty hot, most people would agree. When everyone is asked how we got here, we will get a billion different opinions.

It is human nature to want to know all the answers to life's mysteries. Human beings don't like saying "I don't know," because people want to know. And when we don't know or we are desperate for an explanation, we make them up, and that's where we bring in religion. We naturally associate someone who says "I don't know" as a fool. And when people are afraid of looking like fools, they make up answers and ironically they look more foolish claiming a false answer rather than just saying "I don't know." So, face the fact that you don't know and nobody in the world knows. And please, don't tell me that you know, "..because I promise you, you don't."-Bill Maher

People can live their lives peacefully and find true happiness without resorting to religion. Let us not worry over where it all came from and spend more time enjoying it for it is. Have hope, have doubt, have peace.

Amen.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Kudos to the Black Friday worker

With the upcoming Black Friday, I thought it would be appropriate to extend a certain appreciation to all the retail associates out there that hate their lives. 2 years ago I worked for a hellish electronics store. I won't say any names but here's a hint: Fry's Electronics... Everyone get that? Good. I worked in the computer department as a computer accessories sales associate, I wasn't exactly a salesmen quite yet. I was more of a helper for the real salesmen. I didn't become an actual salesmen until after Black Friday. I was earning minimum wage which I think was $7.50 per hour and the salesmen were getting $15 per hour plus commission. Needless to say, considerably more than me.

I was to work 20 hours from 5am to midnight on Black Friday with only a 3 hour break spread throughout the day. When I arrived to work, the line of people wrapped around the perimeter of the store waiting to get in and get all their special deals. This day was already bad and I was not looking forward to it at all. When the store opened, it was chaos as any Black Friday is at a retail chain. Customers are extra demanding on this day too because of the good deals but it's only while supplies last and if we don't have that one item, someone is going to be blamed...might as well be me.

This day was pure hell. To add to my stress, I had to be at work again the following day at 11am and work another 7 hours. I might as well be in the military. Whether or not this is even legal has been in the back of my mind ever since. After Black Friday was over after what seemed like an eternity, I went to work the next day like the reliable slave worker that I am. At the end of the day I started feeling really sick. I had about three hours left in my shift and I told my boss that there's no way I was going to make it. And my boss was one of those guys that didn't believe anybody was sick unless they were bleeding out their eyes. If you called in sick, he wanted you to to come in to work and prove it, no joke. Anyway, I convinced him I was not lying and I almost did not make it out the store without puking right there in the middle of the store, I knelt down in the middle of the store for about 5 minutes and rested, trying to hold off this upchuck. After I got up, I sped walked toward the time clock and punched out hoping that if I was going to throw up here, at least it would be outside. I was lucky enough to save it till I got home and I let loose. I puked the nastiest brown liquid but it felt so good.

My theory is that my sickness was caused by the massive amounts of holiday stress with the 20 hour workday and the following day, but I kept in mind that my paycheck would be a lot more because the rule is that when we go over a certain number of hours, the pay goes into double time, then triple time. This helped my motivation to work harder. I was averaging $230 per week already, so I figured I would make more than that in this day alone not including the hours from other days in the week.

Pay day arrived and I was looking forward to it. I opened up the check and saw $320. Are you kidding me? After working the most stressful 20 hours of my life plus my regular hours and getting sick on top of all that, my check was only $90 more than a regular work week? But who am I to complain? Who is going to listen? Fry's Electronics doesn't care about what I think is fair or even it's employees in general. I speak from inside experience and honestly when I say that this company is corrupt and evil. Things happen behind closed doors, that's all I can say. And it's no coincidence that the company had a class action lawsuit against them which I got a little money from, but it was barely gas money.

Another thing about retail chains like this that cracks me up is their ways of motivating their workers. I remember every morning we'd have a 'morning meeting' near the front door before the store opened and at the end of the meeting we'd have to do a little cheer. This little cheer involved five people picked from each department that would lead everyone else in a cheer. We'd say "Give me an F! Give me an R! Give me a Y! Give me an apostrophe, Give me an S!" As we would say these letters we'd have to make the shape of the letter using our body and arms as if you were acting out the classic "YMCA" song. If we didn't participate, we were forced to do the whole thing by ourselves in front of everyone. First off, you know you're in the wrong job when you're doing stupid cheers like this. And what kind of sick person thought this would be a good idea and an effective way to motivate the associates? I will bet on my life that not once did I, or anyone else that walked away from a cheer feel motivated to work at Fry's Electronics. In fact, it made us hate the company even more for being so stupid. After working for this company for 8 months and being in retail for 6 years, I vouched to never return to retail again. I would rather die.

So I say "Cheers!" to the hard working retail associate who will be working on Black Friday and all the crappy people you have to deal with. May God have mercy on your soul.