Ugly 17

I heard the news the other day - shocking news! Bernie Ward, a long time liberal talks how host, "was indicted by a grand jury on three federal counts of Internet child pornography" according to wikipedia. I was shocked, as stated in the first sentence. I didn't agree with many of his opinions, but I still listened to him at nights sometimes. Now I have to burn my ears.

See, because even listening to someone who is alleged to have possibly possessed child porn should be just as much of a crime as possibly having owned it. Now, by having listened to him on occasion, I am no better than a catholic.

I still find it so hard to believe. I mean we all know that "anyone" under the age of 18 is just pure vile ugliness, and to think that anyone could possibly consider such a being attractive in any way is just perverted beyond the beliefs of hardworking Americans. I mean, until that magical transformation happens on a person's 18 birthday, the day that they become a real person, they are just not worth even looking out less the retching begin again. Yuck.

And to think that sex, that inherently disgusting evil act foisted upon us by the Lord of Darkness Himself, Satan, was possibly also used in some of these alleged images that he owned... wow, shocking. That perversion that we all shun because of its shear vileness that we call sex, to use that on a vile creature and to take a picture of it... they should lock those people away for a few lifetimes. But the worst of them are those people who freely download such filth without giving any money or encouragement in anyway to the people who created these monstrosities, and to possibly use these images for their own pleasure... Imagine that, people getting pleasure from an image rather than a thought, and to get pleasure from something that we object to... and because we know without a picture these thoughts would never have happened - these image seekers' immortal souls could have been saved. Oh the humanity!

I know I stand in good company, the company of people who have never once looked at someone who hasn't see this planet go around the sun at least 18 times and thought, "wow, that person might possibly be attractive." So I am glad that we have a police and court system willing to spend our hard earned tax dollars ridding us of these types of people, people who have done nothing but bring wakes of pain in their passing. And host highly rated talk shows for a few decades or played for The Who. Bastards.

The Edward

A Tip for the Working

Just stop it - and here is why:

I have some liberal friends (as well as some conservative friends, though I am neither - a friend that is) but this is about those liberal ones. Well, a specific subset of them, not all of my liberal friends are this way, though it is funny to think all liberals are this way. I was enjoying a meal with these friends at a local restaurant where the service and food were amazing. Everyone agree, spectacular.

Over the course of the meal, I was hearing stories about the homeless people and people without enough money to pay their bills, etc. They were telling stories of how they gave tons of money to help these people. It was a good cause, they were telling me. The people who were getting this money were out of work and had real needs. I have heard all of this before, and agree with some of it. Overall, a fine lunch with interesting conversation.

Then the bill came.

It was around $25-$30 per person. Well, one person's was actually $24.50, not $25 and he argued that he shouldn't have to pay more than what he owed, so he wanted to throw in $24. The shocking part for those who haven't been following along was that he had just been talking about giving tons of money to the people without jobs. Now, here was a person who had just done a great job for him, bringing him some great food, etc. Now, giving this person an extra 50 cents was a deal breaker. (any overage goes directly to the server)

This is a trend I have noticed over the years, and I do not like its impact on me. Because if I throw in some extra to help out these working people, then the total bill always seems to be correct, which means some people didn't throw in enough. And since the total is correct, it is a hard argument to make that some people really should be throwing in more just to cover their meal. So, I try to be as exact as possible until the bill is settled.

So there are two points here. 1) If you are a working stiff, those liberal people don't care that much about you. Somehow by actually doing something to contribute to society makes you less of a person. Remember that when you vote. 2) If you make at least 2x over your server, and most people I know probably make at least 10x over, and you think that person did a good job, the best way you can help out society is to help out those people directly. Don't wait for the government to help them. An extra buck a day per person can make a difference in these working people's lives.

Be a big tipper, there is no downside.

The Edward

I Like Pie

If you are here reading this, which I guess you have to be in order to be reading this sentence, and had been wondering, "Gosh, what profoundly exciting thing will The Edward regal me with after six weeks off. I bet his first new topic will be mind-blowing! I can not help but wonder what it be, in a forward tense kind of way!", well here you go: I Like Pie.

You are probably thinking, "Wow, what a let down. That's it?! Where is that keen sight into what makes our world such an abomination in the eyes of The Arcane World? Where is the funny? What a minute, this is The Edward we are talking about... maybe he means this in the more rude sense, as in he likes hair pie? That's got to be it!"

Sure, I'll admit that I do enjoy hair pie, though without so much hair, but that is not what I meant. Thank you for trying - your thoughts on this were much more clever than was I was thinking of. My thoughts were much more simple: I Like Pie.

I have an Apple Pie in my refrigerator right now. I have only ever bought a few pies in my life - mostly as gifts or to bring to friends' houses. But this past weekend, I bought a pie to share with some friends, and I realized something: some people like pie. I had just never considered it. It is kind of like in one blog entry from a long time ago about music in restaurants. I suffer through music there and always thought others must as well, until I realized that others must like music or restaurants wouldn't spend the money on having it just to annoy customers. Same with pie.

I always thought of pie as something one buys as a gift or to share, but not something that one could say "I like that" about. It just was. So, the next day, after the group of friends had left the building (they actually left the shortly after the pie, but this part of the tale happens the next day), I decided to try a piece of that pie in the silent solitude of my house, and to have no preconceived notions of pie. And I must say, it was a darn tasty pie. That is when I realized, I Like Pie.

The Edward

There be demons

Isn't a demon a being that is in hell and exists to promote your suffering? Wouldn't stopping you from enjoying yourself while in hell be part of that suffering? What if they had cars in hell, wouldn't demons surround your car with their cars and prevent you from driving? What if there were jobs in hell, wouldn't demons be your boss and your coworkers, never giving you a promotion or a break? In this hell, these demons could torture you by creating desires within you for certain things, then be able to take an active part in denying you access to those desires?

If all of these things are true, isn't this hell and humans are really demons?

The Edward

You don't want that!

I remember back to my college days, we would sometimes sit around and ask questions. You know, talk. I think they all found it boring without a drink in hand, but I thought it was a fascinating look into the minds of humans. Some of the questions and answers I will share with you in hopes that it will illuminate my point.

1) If you could go back in time, when, where, and why? An answer that few of the guys gave was: go back to when Winona Ryder wasn't famous and fuck her. I think that started a chain of guys naming other women that they would also want to do this to.

2) If you could have one supper power, what would you have and why? Common answers were invisibility or mind control. Again, so that they could meet up with some current celebrity and fuck her.

After just these two, I think we can see a theme, but is it the theme you think you are thinking of?

I believe I only ever met one person who said "I would want the power to make certain women fall in love with me." See, in the previous two answers, there was no talk of what the other person wanted. Isn't a definition of rape having sex with someone who doesn't want to? No one else talked about consent. They didn't want the other person to fall in love with them, have feelings, etc, they just wanted sex with that person. Isn't that the same thing as rape? They wanted to have sex with that person's body, not with that person, so she really didn't factor into it.

It looks like I am on the side of the guy who wanted women to fall in love with him, right? Wrong, and I will explain with another example. In answer to questions #1, some people also said "Go back in time and buy lots of stock XXX". What are they really saying? The money that they make off of this purchase would have been someone else's, right? Isn't this stealing? Going back in time and stealing from people who made money when you didn't? So that falling in love guy still wanted her to be someone else - like if he slipped her a drug that made her go wild for him, wouldn't that be the same thing, and wouldn't that also be rape? Taking something that someone else has but isn't giving it to you right now?

The common thread over all of these things is that people really do not want what they thing they want. If one thinks of the consequences and implications, it isn't what they believe it to be. One can not change one thing and keep the rest. If you want a woman (or man) sexually, you really want to rape them. If you want to have made a lot of money from someone but didn't, you really want to steal their money.

This is why I do not want things or people.

The Edward

What are you saying?

I was driving around just a few minutes ago, rocking out to my latest favorite song, Benzin by Rammstein, when I realized something - the volume on my stereo was way too loud and the iTunes audio compression sucks. It just sounds like crap - the bass was pumped too high, and yet it sounded tinny. Beside all of the audio artifacts that were trying to suck the joy out of the listening experience, I thought of something! They were speaking German.

Look around and find someone who is really enjoying some music. How will you know that they enjoying it? They will move their bodies in a rhythmic manner. We can probably agree that when one hears a song that they really enjoy, it is hard to not move ones body to it. So there is a link between what sounds we hear and some kind of physical reactions. Music can make some people cry, laugh, feel empower, etc. So, obviously there is also an emotional aspect as well. But, wherein lies the connection?

I had always assumed that it was the music itself that had these impacts on humans. Then again, I was biased because I can not understand words when sung, so I always discounted the words themselves. In an impassioned speech, the words can motivate people both physically and mentally, so maybe I was wrong. Or maybe there was something else?

I think we would agree on all things up to this point. What I liked about the Benzin song, besides that it was released on a very important day in my life, is that this song would probably suck in any other language than German. German has certain sound characteristics, just like every language does. Operas tend to be in Italian because their words tend to end in sounds that can be stretched (oooooooooo, etc).

The connection between all of this: are some languages better at motivating people? Are certain languages better at just getting to the core of a human being? Not because of the words contained within the language itself, but because of the sounds that are used to make up the language. Just like certain musical sounds can cause certain feelings. And certain accents can cause someone to melt.

Does a guttural language create more warlike people? Ever heard Klingon? Sure, it is a made up language (or so they tell us...), but the people who made it chose those sounds, and it definitely has that feel to it. If Klingon was sing-songy, do you think it would really be the language of a warlike people?

Are people slaves to their native tongue? Is there a language of peace and calm? Could we invent a language that uses sounds that allow focus and concentration - one that could be used for the sciences? In what ways could we change the world if we just changed how we pronounce words?

The Edward

Dexter's Dilemma

That's right, I'm kicking off the new month talking about a TV show. Well, I had to wait until the latest season started before I talked about that ending of the past season.

To catch up - Dexter is a show on Showtime, based on a series of novels. The main character is a serial killer, with a heart of gold. He claims he feels nothing, which is what makes him a killer, though throughout the season, he sure does seem to react as if he had feelings. Anyway, he only kills people that deserve it - other serial killers. He works in the police department and knows how to cover his tracks. No one knows about the real Dexter, except his dead father in flashbacks.

At the end of the past season, we find out that a serial killer that has been playing games of cat and mouse with Dexter throughout the whole season is really his long lost brother, who also feels nothing. He tries to convince Dexter to kill his adopted sister and join forces with him. His brother claims that no one else knows the real him, and that if he told his sister what he was, she would not take it well.

I enjoy the show, but the actual logic contained within the shows world really makes no sense. Dexter's brother makes an invalid point and the monologue from Dexter states that he believes it totally. Sure, he could have someone who knows his dark side (which he thinks is his only side), but his sister knows another part of him. The claim that his good side is fake is unjustified. If he goes with his brother, he would lose a side of himself, something his brother would never understand. Yet, this part of the argument is never really addressed.

What is the point of all of this? Well, if you pretend to be someone else, part of you is that someone else. All things that you do come from some part of you. You have a dark side, a side no one knows about. You take actions to cover it up, hoping no one will see the real you. And there is also a part of you that you want people to see, but no one does and it is frustrating sometimes. You are living a lie...

Actually, you are not. That face which you show is one of your many faces. All of them are real. Remember that next time you think you are acting!

The Edward