JusJoJan: Liberty

Haha! I get to suggest today’s prompt for the Just Jot It January challenge. The word for today is: liberty.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but liberty is very important to me. In fact, I completely agree with Patrick Henry when he said “Give me liberty or give me death!”.

I would really rather be dead than to ‘live’ without liberty. I really don’t consider it living if I don’t have the freedom to live my life in the way I choose to. In fact, I consider it a long, drawn out slow death. A death of my creativity, of my happiness, or my loves, of my life. I don’t think I’m out of line at all. In fact, I can quote all kinds of things that show that America was founded to promote liberty and that it is the ONLY legitimate purpose of our (or any) government, is to protect and promote the liberty we all were born with.

Let’s define our terms…

nounplural liberties.

1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control. 
2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence. 
3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.

 

Looking at that definition, can anyone seriously argue that we have NOT lost most of our liberty in the United States over the last few years? How many people can read the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights and argue that they do NOT argue for the liberty of all men (and pleeease remember the times they were written in)?

How can a country specifically formed ONLY to protect our natural rights (liberty) turn around to such a degree? To the point where that government, formed ONLY to protect our liberty instead spends all its time (and our money) to violate our liberties every chance it gets?

I’m perfectly aware that most people couldn’t care less about the loss of liberty we’ve suffered in the United States over the last few decades (and increasingly since 9/11). I hear from  almost everyone that they don’t care what anyone does to them as long as ‘it keeps them safe”.

Really? Safety is all important? I don’t think the people who say that have really considered what they’re saying when they say that. After all, liberty is not really the sort of thing you can divide up. You’re either free or you’re not. It’s like you’re only a little bit pregnant. No, you either are or you’re not. You either own your own life or you don’t! If you don’t, then someone else must and you have become a slave.

Government is nothing but the monopolized use of force. If you study how governments came about, that’s very obvious to see. When you give up any of your powers to the government, you are ‘agreeing’ that they have the right to use force against you (whether you agree to it or not). And (they say) you don’t have the right to protect yourself against it!

At this point, we have given up almost all of our freedom. All of our liberty. We have very, very little of our natural rights left that we can exercise fully. You think I’m exaggerating? Try going to a law library and taking a look at the Federal Register!

Hundreds of thousands of pages of incomprehensible legalese. Shelves of big fat books full of ‘laws’ we’re all supposed to know and obey. How could that possibly equal freedom?

George Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning, not as a roadmap. But left him choking  in the dust by 1985! Our ‘big brother’ doesn’t only keep an eye on us from our home TV sets, he tracks our every move through our cell phones! He uses the EZ pass (toll roads) to keep track of where we go in our vehicles. He can tell our habits through tracking our spending on our credit/debit cards. He can get all kinds of information through our ‘smart’ devices. He’s already testing driverless (completely controlled by government) cars. And we can’t fly anywhere anymore without government permission (TSA)!

Big brother has already convinced fearful parents to chip not only their pets, but their kids and their parents! Scientists have already invented pills that inform your doctors if you take them or not. Soon they will report all your health information. Cashless societies are on the way, where every dollar you spend will be tracked (to cut down on tax cheats).

Just think of how the government controls everything now a days. What, if anything, don’t they have their hands in? They regulate the food you eat, the drugs you take, the doctors you can talk to about your health issues. Oh yeah, they also regulate what your doctors can say (and your churches if they want to remain tax free which is a form of coercion).

Free speech? Not so much any more with all the ‘political correctness’ BS going around. If I like Trump for one thing, I do love him for the fact that he is most definitely NOT PC!  They regulate the amount of water you can use to flush your toilet and the type of light bulbs you can use in your house (forcing dangerous mercury filled bulbs to replace previous incandescent bulbs).

Think you can choose what jobs you’d like to work at? Nope, big brother is enforcing hundreds of regulations restricting the rights of people who choose to work in professions as diverse as hair braiders, to animal massagers, to interior designers, to merchant marines. They’ve manipulated most businesses in the country to coerce us into submitting to giving up our rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Do you call it freedom to be forced to beg permission from the government in order to go to work?

I don’t! I don’t call it freedom because it ISN’T!

Think you can just pick up and leave? “If you don’t like it here, you can just go back to where you came from?” Well, I would if I could, but I came from HERE! I grew up in the good ol’ USA. I believe 100% in the principles this country was founded on “LIBERTY and justice for all!”.

I believe everyone, everywhere in the world SHOULD be able to exercise those same liberties we here in America are promised. But the fact is, America is the only country, anywhere, ever in the history of the world to form specifically in order to promote and protect the individual rights of all of us.

I wish the American people would wake up and take back our freedom before its too late. I don’t think we have much time left to turn things around.

Sorry to all the democrats who think its all Trumps fault. Or the republicans who blame it all on Obama. Fact is, it’s ALL of our political ‘leaders’ fault! And ours, for continuing to believe that any politician from either of the mainstream parties will ever change anything!  For the last 100 years (at least), they’ve ALL conspired to strip us of our liberties and give themselves more power and control.

It’s sad how easily they manipulate us. They keep us divided and fighting over such stupidities as the word “shithole” and how many ‘illegal’ votes were counted. It’s time to stop wasting our time fighting each other and come to understand who we really SHOULD be fighting. Look beyond the party lines. I can promise you, you will find the same people are running things on both sides.

There is nothing to be gained by continuing to support these political parties who want nothing more than continued CONTROL. I want my freedom back! Do you?

JusJoJan: Octopus

Todays Just Jot It January prompt is: words that start with “oc”. I always found octopi to be extremely interesting creatures. I like to watch them at the zoo. They’re super smart and curious. There is a large variety around the world (about 300 species), from tiny little ones the size of your thumb to the giant pacific octopus, where one was measured at 30 ft across it’s arms!

Check out the video for a quick introduction to the octopi. 😉

SNL- Dysfunctional Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know it’s a little late. Thanksgiving is over already, but I was looking at youtube tonight to get some info about teaching in Ukraine. I watched the weekly TEFL webinar and they got me curious about how it is over there and they recommended I watch this youtube video. These SNL videos were posted all along the side of the page.

I hope your holidays don’t go like this, but mine were fairly similar when I was growing up. Anyone today would say I had a very dysfunctional family life when I was a kid. I’m glad now I have good friends with ‘normal’ families I can hang out with. 🙂

SNL: Vincent Price’s Halloween Special

More fun for Halloween!

Do you remember Vincent Price? I do. He was a favorite of mine in those old Saturday morning Creature Features and assorted horror movies.

I can’t say I remember Gloria Swanson. She was before my time and I never have seen Sunset Boulevard. I’m not up on James Mason either, tho I do remember seeing him in quite a few films. Seems kindof out of character from what I remember, but maybe I’m thinking of the wrong guy.

I love how Vincent (Bill Hader) tries to keep the show ‘PG’, safe for the kids. Liberace gets in a few good ones too. It’s hilarious.

Two More Days to Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (the other is St Patricks Day). I love all the costumes, parties, and candy! I don’t bother to decorate my house, it looks like it’s a Halloween House year round anyway, but I do buy some extra candy now for the trick or treaters who might come by. I’m too paranoid to go out to any of the parties anymore. 🙁

I thought this video was kind of cute. I do like to read horror stories and I get a kick out of those campy old movies with the zombies and werewolves. I’ve seen a couple of the Saw movies, a few of the Elm Street movies, a bunch of zombie movies too.  I remember Michael Jackson and the Thriller video when it first came out. I loved his dancing. Sad that he died so young.

Poor Freddie, his jokes weren’t going over too well. The werewolf has his own take. He’s cute. 😉

L is for Lion- #AtoZChallenge

“L” is for Lion. I was lucky to be able to see some of these amazing animals in the wild. I went on a photography safari with Great Escape Publishing (GEP) in November. We spent a week exploring Northwest Tanzania. We saw lots of lions and their cubs. I could have spent hours watching them, but we had to move on. So much more to see.

F is for Freedom- #AtoZChallenge

F” is for FREEDOM! A particular passion of mine. I could go on and on about it (like this), but no one ever wants to listen. Here, on my blog, I can express myself. I can try to make a point and then remove myself from the ‘conversation’.

Maybe then, others will take a minute or two to think about what I am trying to communicate? Instead of talking to each other in person. Where each person almost always has a rebuttal in mind before the first person even gets finished speaking?

Maybe by just putting some of these thoughts out there, into the ether, someone might think ‘hey, that actually makes sense’, or ‘wow, what a thought’, or ‘maybe those nut job libertarian freaks really do have some good points’, or best of all they might start to think for themselves about why we are NOT allowed to live our lives with all the freedoms we OUGHT to have!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes (taken from google)…

I truly believe that with all my heart. I only wish others felt the same. 

And again, you can’t value freedom for yourself without granting the same to others. 

Why do so many people value ‘fitting in’, falsifying their own true selves to be ‘accepted’ by others? Be yourself! I decided a long time ago, I will not let others opinions affect the things I choose to do with my life! If people don’t like me the way I am, then the hell with them! There are over 7 BILLION people in this world, I’m sure to find at least a few who accept me and value me just the way I am. Those are the only ones for me to care about.

Sad, but true. For some reason, we have an overabundance of greedy, power-hungry bastards that ALWAYS manage to steal the power away from the people. We, the people managed to wrestle it away for a short time here in the US, but they’ve come back with a vengeance and stolen away almost ALL of our liberty again! Unless and until the populace starts caring again and demands their freedom, and takes it back- we will just keep on losing more and more each year until we’re basically just a slave state (again) and only ‘our leaders’ are free.

Believe it or not, but we’re pretty damn close to that state right now, today (and no, it’s not just because Trump got elected). The “deep state”, the powers behind the powers have been working behind the scenes for decades and they are sooooo close, so close they can taste it! Total control is within their grasp. We’re so far past Orwell’s 1984, it’s not even funny.

While we all just keep on ignoring the whole thing, telling ourselves we still live in the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’. Repeat it enough and we’ll make ourselves really believe it’s true. Nope, that place is long gone!

Snowden tried his best to wake us up, even his revelations did nothing to wake up the majority of the people. They just don’t seem to care. Have they all been brainwashed? 12 years of government indoctrination has done the job the public schools were created to do? Dumb us down and turn us all into ‘cogs in the great machine‘, just indistinguishable tools to create the wealth so that others can siphon off most of it before we ever even see it?

EXACTLY! What’s the big deal? Why do so many people freak out when the idea of real freedom is brought up? They’ll bring up every imaginable excuse (no matter how ridiculous) to argue against it. Regardless of the fact that the most free societies in the history of mankind have been the most prosperous and gave the best possible lives to the most possible (considering the reality of the times they lived in).

This idea perfectly expresses the reason why the founders rebelled against Great Britain and formed the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence says it all:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-Preamble to the Declaration of Independence

That basic principle is the foundation of our country. ALL people should be free to live their lives in whatever way they choose (as long as they don’t hurt anyone else). (No matter how hypocritical they were back then re: blacks, women, native americans). Why don’t even Americans hold to these principles anymore?

We are still living now on the proceeds of the freedom we used to have. I wonder how much longer can we last before our creeping statism (fascism, totalitarianism, globalism, corporatism, crony capitalism, socialism, etc) destroys whats left?

I agree (tho a clipper ship under full sail I’d count as a close second)! Take a quick look at some beautiful ships…

See what I mean? 🙂

More Shud

This past Saturday Night Live was the best I’ve seen in quite a while. SNL is actually one of the very few shows I’ll turn on the TV to watch, but it’s been disappointing lately.

This week it was really pretty funny. I liked the opener (about Trump and an alien invasion), the Olive Garden commercial was pretty good, and the mermaid sketch featuring Kate McKinnon as ‘Shud’ (who is part blobfish) and Scarlett Johansson as her best friend the anglerfish was hilarious.

I hope they keep going with this skit. Maybe they can even add Leslie Jones in there somewhere. I think she might add even more to it. 🙂

More Questions From the Alien

I know most people find it absolutely inconceivable that we can exist without a government to run things. Personally, I just can’t understand that mind frame. I just don’t get it.

Why do so many people think they can’t figure out how to run their own lives without some far off ‘leader’ making all the important decisions for them? I mean it’s ridiculous right?

Here in the USA, ‘the most free country in the world’, our government saddles us with hundreds of thousands of ‘laws’. The Code of Federal Regulations had over 34,000 pages (and weighed 340 lbs) in 2011!!!

Our leaders force us to follow their directions in everything from deciding what we can do with our own bodies (can’t decide what to eat, drink, smoke, etc), to what we can do with ‘our’ property, to what we can do for a living (and how). Their interference is never-ending!

We have laws to: fine or imprison us for drinking raw milk, force us to drink fluoridated water, regulate the amount of water you can use to flush your toilet, force you to tie yourself up every time you get in your car (seatbelt), force you to use expensive and shorter lasting lightbulbs, fine or imprison you for collecting the rain water that falls on your property, throw you in prison for using a harmless plant (marijuana), force you to pay them (government) in order to start a business (extortion), force you to pay them in order to get a job (extortion), force you to support a corrupt and exceedingly expensive medical system (obamacare), allow ‘our leaders’ to get away with NOT following the ‘laws’ they FORCE the rest of us to follow!

And there are hundreds of thousands of others. 🙁

Yet, some people still believe that all this is somehow necessary. I will continue to ask WHY? Since it really is NOT necessary, no not at all! People existed in peaceful societies long before there was any such thing as ‘government’.

No, we do NOT need the government to ‘build roads’, ‘educate the children’, ‘catch the thieves/bad guys’, etc. People were perfectly capable of doing all those things (and everything else they needed to do) without any government.

I’ve been a libertarian ever since I understood what the word meant (nonaggression principle), and really since I was born. I never understood the need for ‘authority’ and have fought it all my life.

I KNOW I can run my life better than anyone else can. Yes, even tho I’ve made mistakes and will surely make more. I STILL know that no one else could’ve done better. Period! I understand that works the same for everybody on this planet (and everywhere else!).

It is simply impossible for anyone else to have all the knowledge that I do about my life (same for everybody else). Without perfect knowledge, there can be no perfect decisions. Since I have the MOST perfect knowledge, then my decision is the BEST one possible. Period.

Until there is some all knowing, all powerful, perfect being (some say there is- God- but that’s another issue I don’t want to get into now), then there is NO justification for letting ANYONE else control YOUR decisions about YOUR life. PERIOD!

The US Constitution tried to create a ‘proper’ government. One where the PEOPLE were sovereign, as they should be. The principles behind the Declaration of Independence and written in the Bill of Rights were a great start for a great country.

The first ever formed specifically and only to guarantee and protect the rights of the individual. Our founding fathers understood that those rights were inherent to every human being and did NOT come from any government.

Too bad we’ve decided to disregard all that stuff. We’ve decided to throw our heritage of freedom and individual liberty in the garbage and become like every other socialist country in the world (most of them failures in many ways). It’s just a matter of degree.

We used to understand the difference between individualism and statism. Not any more. We’re all statists now, everywhere around the world. We’re lucky we’re still living on what we were able to create when we were still fairly free and able to be creative. Those days are fading fast.

I liked how the little alien from my post the other day asked such great questions. Here it is again with some more to make you think…

Pirates Christmas

Getting into the Christmas spirit around here. It’s Christmas Eve already- wow! Here’s a fun little video by Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers. It’s another Song of the Sea too. 😉

Yo Ho Ho (Pirates Christmas)

‘Twas the night before Christmas

And out on the sea…

Continue reading

Tuesday Meetups: Government Explained

I was at our weekly Tuesday Meetup of the Campaign for Liberty. Last week was one of the better ones we’ve had in a while. We watched a couple of pretty good videos. Here’s one…

We all got a good laugh out of it. I would love to see this thing played in every school in the country. We really need to do something to get people to think about this kind of stuff!

Personally, I’ve never understood why so many people think they need someone else to tell them how to live their lives. Or why so many people think that someone else actually has some sort of right to do it.

As a libertarian, I believe every person has the absolute right to live their own lives in the best way they can. The way they choose. They have the right to do anything they want, as long as they don’t hurt anybody else.

So far, no one has ever been able to give me a good reason for not having things that way. A lot of excuses, a lot of fears, a lot of “what-ifs”, but no reasons.

I’d really like to see someplace, even just one place in the world, try to form a society where people could live that way. The US tried. They came very close when they came up with the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But they never truly followed it. If they had actually treated ALL people the way they said they should, we might actually have a free country today. Too bad they weren’t ready to go that far. 🙁

I do see a few people around the world trying. The Seasteaders, the Libertarian Party, the guy over in Europe who’s trying hard to create a really free country, even the Freedom Ship was originally intended to be a place where people could have real freedom (tho it seems to have mutated).

I’d love to be able to find somewhere like that to move to, so far they are all out of my reach financially at least. In the meantime, I keep on trying to find ways to make things better here, but it sure does get frustrating.

Videos like that help cheer me up, for a little while. 😉

Chaotic: African Fire Drill

I checked into my new hotel this afternoon. When I walked outside to take a look at the beach, I noticed a column of smoke not too far away. Actually, it was pretty close.

I went to see what was going on. As I got closer, I could see the flames shooting up.  Spreading quickly up the thatched roof of a nearby resort.

#fire at a beach resort in #Zanzibar

I went over to see if I could help (as a mariner I’ve been training in firefighting for the last 30+ years).

The scene was complete chaos.

#fire and #emergency at a beach resort in #Zanzibar

Like a ‘Chinese fire drill’, but no Chinese around. It was an African fire drill, but not a drill. A real fire, and a big one!

#fire at #beach resort on #Zanzibar

There was a huge crowd milling around, taking photos and selfies. European tourists in bikinis and locals from the nearby village. 🙁

#crowd watching the #firefighters

Someone decided to be ‘official’ and ran a bunch of yellow plastic crime scene tape around the area. Best I could tell, the waiters were trying to fight the fire. There were a couple of groups of guys trying to get the fire hoses straightened out.

Dozens of people- locals, Maasai men, workers from the resorts, and a few tourists (including me)- joined in to help fight the fire and keep the flames from spreading.

One hose ran all the way from my resort- at least a half mile- there was no water pressure. The same situation on the other side of the building.

It was a large, mostly open air, building with a palm thatched roof. From the gear scattered around outside, I assumed it was the kitchen/dining room. There were tables and chairs, serving bars, small refrigerators, serving platters and condiment trays.

On my side of the flaming building, there was a small market and massage business. People were moving all the paintings, carvings and tables further away from the fire. On the other side, there were about 2 dozen little thatched palapas between the fire and the next building.

Luckily, the wind was blowing pretty much directly towards the ocean and not to either side. If it had been, it would have been a complete disaster. As it was, they were very, very lucky it wasn’t a lot worse.

By the time I walked from my resort past the one next door to the one where the fire was, the fire had spread from one end of the building to the other. It was not just the thatched roof now, but a raging inferno as the fire consumed all the interior furniture, framework, etc.

#fire at beach resort in #Zanzibar

Outside was still complete chaos. There was still no water pressure. I kept wondering why didn’t they have a pump set up? They could keep one set up in the little shack there on the beach, keep a couple of hoses nearby and they’d have all the fire-fighting capability they’d ever need with the ocean right there.

I noticed the manager (or the man who seemed most to be in charge) and offered to help. Put some of those decades of experience to use, but he was too agitated to bother with me. I feel sorry for him. He told me they had just had a drill 3 days ago.

I’m not sure what the problem was with the water pressure, they did eventually get the hose to work. In the meantime, I was helping the women in the bucket brigade. We were filling any containers we could find in the swimming pool, passing them through the kitchen, through the palapas, to the men who would throw them onto the fire.

#bucket brigade to fight the #fire

Other men were working on trying to take down the palapas, to keep the sparks from igniting them and spreading the fire to the rest of the resort. A couple of guys got hold of a water hose and were doing what they could with it.

tearing down the #palapas for a #firebreak

I noticed a fire extinguisher and wondered why no one had thought to put it to use?

All I could think about was what a waste. The lack of training was so obvious, it was sad. These people were doing their best, many were plainly very upset. I noticed tears on the faces of a few of the women. The men were yelling and pointing and extremely agitated. I wish I could speak their language, but I’m limited with just English.

I tried to catch someone who spoke English, to give them a few pointers (since they were not fighting the fire very effectively). I hoped no one would get hurt when they went inside the building (with barely enough water pressure for a garden hose) and no protective equipment. Most of them were in shorts and flip-flops.

There is always the danger of re-flash and yes, the fire did flare up again a few times. A few  men kept up throwing buckets of water and sand on the thatch when the women were told to get back to serving lunch (WTF???).

I would offer to do some drills with them while I’m here, but somehow I think they might not appreciate that. I’m sure it would help to just get everyone confident with a fire extinguisher. I’m not sure what started the fire, but since it was in the kitchen/dining room, I assume it started in the kitchen.

Grease fire? Burned the bacon? I’d like to know what really happened. I sure do hope they review this incident and get some ‘lessons learned’. I’m glad no one got hurt, but from watching the whole episode, that had to be pure luck.

PS- I heard today that it did start in the kitchen. They cook over open flames mostly here. The story I got was that the cooking fire somehow caught the gas bottles (in a small room) and then there was an explosion.

Halloween Villain Conference Call

I thought you might like this. I LMAO. 🙂

 

 

Paints and Politics

Tuesdays are usually busy days for me. I get up early so I have time to check email, take out the garbage, eat breakfast and get out of the house by 9:00.

I’ve been going to take painting classes at the Art & Science Center every Tuesday morning (if I’m not able to go to work in Houston). I’ve missed quite a few classes, but I can still see some improvement.

I have only completed 2 paintings so far. I’ve started a few others, but not close to finishing them yet. I don’t really like any of them very much so far. One friend of mine told me she really liked one abstract (mess) I was working on. I thought about it for a while and then turned it into an alien jungle scene. Kind of reminded me of something Rousseau might have done. Here’s the before…

I had it framed and gave it to my friend. I wasn’t all that surprised, but she liked it better before I added to it. She thought I ‘ruined it’. Here’s the after…

Which one do you like best?

The other one I’ve finished was the 1st one I started in this class. I’ve really been trying to learn how to paint water. I found a picture in one of the art books in the classroom and tried to get the technique down. It didn’t turn out much like my reference, but I think it wasn’t too bad for my first try.

Today, I was trying to finish up a couple of others I’ve been working on for a while. This will be my last class since I’ll be at the TBEX next Tuesday. I still have a long way to go on both of them, but I think they’re shaping up nicely.

I especially like this one (below), the photo doesn’t really do it justice. 🙂

I really get the feeling like I’m out there on the water. I wish I really was. 🙂

So, that’s what I do Tuesday mornings.

Tuesday evenings I go meetup with my friends from the local Campaign for Liberty group (ex- Ron Paul meetup group). We like to talk politics over dinner at a local restaurant. Lately we’ve been meeting at the Bella Roma on highway 332, next to the old skating rink. They serve large portions of pretty decent Italian favorites (pizza, pasta, etc). I usually get either ravioli with Alfredo sauce or the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. The Italian Cream Cake and Cheesecake for dessert is good too.

Lately we’ve been talking a lot about how we’ve managed to come so far from our beginnings as a free country. Last week we were watching a slide show, but as we kept stopping to discuss various points, we didn’t finish the whole program before they started closing down the place- it didn’t help that we had one extremely socialist guest. 😉

I do like to argue, but this guy put me to shame! I think the only thing we all agreed on was that the ‘banksters’ were screwing us and the entire world.

The more I learn about what’s really going on, the more frustrated and depressed I get. At this point, I think the only way possible to really live as we’re meant to- is to get completely out of the ‘system’. I don’t know how to do that, or if it’s even possible any more. All I know is that I’ll never accept the way things are now (even tho I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall most days).

So, I go to the meetings on Tuesday nights, just for a change- to talk to a few people who mostly do ‘get it’. Yeah, we still argue about things, we still struggle to understand- but we try mostly to inform people. We’ll never fix what’s wrong with this country or the world as long as the vast majority prefers the status quo.

Yeah, OK- call me a ‘conspiracy theorist’. But what if it’s true?

 

 

Shrimp Packs a Punch

I saw a video from National Geographic about this peacock mantis shrimp in my Twitter feed today. I thought it was pretty cool and deserved a wider audience. 😉

This little shrimp really is an amazing creature. It’s colors are beautiful and it’s punch is strong as hell! I wouldn’t put it up against any human boxer, if it was our size it would really be scary! TKO any heavyweight champ in a NY second!

I do love nature and all the wonderful plants and animals we share the world with. I think the natural world is beautiful and fascinating. I love to spend time wandering around in any forest, beach, mountain, etc. I really wish more people would take a look at the bigger picture and not stay so tightly focused on their own self, family, tribe, etc. We are killing off so much of our world, just so we can fill it up with billions more humans. Seriously, I don’t understand why.

A to Z: Zubenelgenubi

My last post for the A to Z Challenge is on Zubenelgenubi.

Have you heard of it before?

I have, actually. I’m not just making this up for the challenge. 😉

Zubenelgenubi is one of the navigational stars. Stars we traditionally use to navigate by. It’s one of the stars in the constellation Virgo (next to Scorpius).

I remember when I really first started learning about all that stuff. When I was a cadet on the Ariadne, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. The skies were wide open and the stars were so bright. Our sail training master has us out practicing with the sextant, calculating our position. We were challenged to beat the actual ships crew. We got pretty good at it by the end of the crossing. 🙂

That was way before everybody had GPS. 😉

A to Z: Voluntarism

Today’s post for the A to Z challenge is: voluntarism.

vol·un·ta·rism
ˈvälən(t)əˌrizəm/
noun
 
  1. 1
    the principle of relying on voluntary action (used especially with reference to the involvement of voluntary organizations in social welfare).
     
  2. 2
    PHILOSOPHY
    the doctrine that the will is a fundamental or dominant factor in the individual or the universe.

I’ve always been extremely passionate about the ideas of freedom and individual liberty. Since the A to Z challenge is almost over, I’ll take this opportunity to post about it again. 😉

I consider myself to be a libertarian. I usually vote for the Libertarian Party (even tho I mostly think voting is useless since the system is so totally corrupt).

I believe in the non-aggression principle (NAP). I believe each person owns their own life. Think about it for a minute, if they/you don’t, then just exactly who does?

I believe each person has the absolute right to decide how they want to live their life. That each individual can do anything they choose as long as they don’t hurt anyone else (and they are responsible for their choices).

Since I believe all of that, I am also a proponent of voluntarism. I do not think it’s a good idea to force people into doing things they don’t want to do. I believe if you can’t make a good enough argument, if you can’t convince someone to do something with the use of reason, then whatever it is you’re trying to do probably is not a good idea in the first place.

You ought to be able to convince people to follow your suggestions voluntarily- through their own free choice. Otherwise, just exactly why should they do what you want? Simply because “might makes right”? Is that really the way things ought to be?

I say no! Hell no! That is not how things should be and I don’t like it that it mostly still is that way. I think it’s sad that in this day and age we’re still acting like brute force is the best ‘idea’ we can come up with as a way to manage human interactions.

People always come up with all kinds of arguments and excuses as to why these ideas won’t work. The exceptions to the rules. I answer, don’t we have exceptions to the rules we follow now? Don’t people break the ‘laws’ we have now?

I think we would all be much better off with more freedom and less force, with more liberty and less ‘law’. People need freedom to grow and to truly flourish. It’s a human right and a human need.

Look around the world and see where are the people most prosperous and well off (physically, emotionally, spiritually)? Places with the most freedom: Hong Kong, Singapore, parts of Western Europe, the USA (tho we are still benefitting from the freedoms we used to have here, most of which are being stripped away daily).

A Tuna Eats a Seagull (and Spits It Out)

Funny that they just happened to catch this…

Source: A Tuna Eats a Seagull (Then Spits It Out): VIDEO | The Maritime Network

This Morning’s Floods

I drove up to Houston this morning to go to work. It was nice enough when I left the house about 0530. It started raining just past beltway 8 on the way in. I made it to the intersection of 288 and 610 and they were turning people around. I tried to go ahead and get on to 59, but the water was too deep and I had to turn around.

I had to backtrack to beltway 8, took that to 59N and then tried again. It was close in a couple of places, but I made it all the way up to work only to find out the power was out there and so they had cancelled classes for the day.

Yes, they had sent out emails, but I have to leave the house at 0530 to get to work by 0700 considering traffic, weather, etc. I don’t have any way to check email once I leave the house. 🙁

I’m fixin’ to turn on the weather to see if it’s still predicted to be dangerous to drive in to Houston. I’ll still plan on heading in, but will try to call a friend who lives near there to see how things are. I hope they’re working tomorrow, I can sure use the money.

Here’s what it looked like…

I’m sure glad he was able to rescue that armadillo! 😉

The Call

I saw this post on Facebook today and thought to myself “yep, that’s about right.”

I never thought I’d be this upset about being out of work, I’ve been through a couple of busts in the oilfield before and prepared for this one as best I could. I’m a lot better off than most people who’ve been laid off over the last year. But after 6 months without even a couple of days offshore, the stress is getting to me. It’s hard to think straight when financial pressure is always nagging at the back of your mind.

I think we’d ALL feel about like this guy when we get the call. 🙂

Wild Wednesday: Sea Angels

It’s been a (long) while since I’ve done one of these Wild Wednesday posts (and yeah, I’m late).

I was googling around with a little spare time and came across these ‘cute’ lil’ buggers. Sea Angels.

Yeah, they look sweet and innocent. Fluttering around the ocean. Their translucent bodies and ‘wings’ might make them seem like the angels they’re named after.

But they’re really just snails. Snails without shells. Hunting snails. Carnivorous snails. Sneaky snails. Sexy snails (they’re ‘simultaneous hermaphrodites’ which means they can reproduce any time- they don’t actually need a partner to do it tho). According to Joseph over on his very interesting blog Real Monstrosities, they’re really little devils. 😉

It’s a good thing they’re all pretty small, the largest of them only grow to a couple of inches long. I’ve never seen them (at least not that I know of). Have you?