So I was going through Facebook and stumbled upon this little gem written in the wake of the Virgina-Tech massacre:
I have spent the past two days just reading, re-reading, watching the videos, and listening about the tragedy. But it’s not enough. I still feel so much confusion, frustration, anger, hurt, and grief. Where’s the catharsis?? I have so many questions still and the answers just aren’t available. I have this overwhelming ache to know: Why did this happen? Is it possible it will happen again? Why are some people so troubled and is there ANYTHING that I can do?? What if it had happened here? Does everyone know that I LOVE them?? I can’t help but cry just thinking about it. But thinking is ALL I can do!
9-11 didn’t hit me this hard. Maybe because I was so much younger. Maybe because of the blatant brutality of these shootings. Maybe because I fit the profile of the victims, and so do you. Maybe because now it seems so much closer, all the more personal. All I know is that now I’m feeling the vulnerability of someone just “going about their day”…but waiting for the ax to fall. Where next? When will it end? This is such a scary time…Please pray, folks.
I think this has struck a nerve in me that’s been festering since Thailand.
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April 18th, 2007 in Commentary, Journal | No Comments »
Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game and a whole bunch of other books that generally no one gives a crap about, is a political junkie.
What many people are unaware of is that Card is also a bloody psychic. Put the two together and you get this:
Yes, that’s the U.S. capital building in the background.
Yes, the title is “Empire.”
Yes, our worst fears have been realized: Orson Scott Card has officially lost his marbles and conceived of a way to have the Red States and the Blue States duke it out in an arena a little more grandiose than Battle School.
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November 11th, 2006 in Current Events | No Comments »
Researchers at Harvard are documenting what has been commonly known for decades:
[Putnam's] research shows that the more diverse a community is, the less likely its inhabitants are to trust anyone– from their next-door neighbour to the mayor.
This is a contentious finding in the current climate of concern about the benefits of immigration. Professor Putnam told the Financial Times he had delayed publishing his research until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity, saying it “would have been irresponsible to publish without that”.
The core message of the research was that, “in the presence of diversity, we hunker down”, he said. “We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it’s not just that we don’t trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don’t trust people who do look like us.”
My time spent at BYU-Hawaii, where Caucasians are a minority, taught me that people by their very nature are good and well intentioned, but that in generally prefer being among others who are similar to themselves.
Hence, Chinese students would always clump together with Chinese students. Japanese students, while outwardly friendly and polite, would guard their inner cliques with an almost xenophobic zeal. White rich kids from California would naturally find their surfing comrades and “hunker down” together.
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October 10th, 2006 in Current Events | No Comments »
Shelly cries me a river on Feminist Mormon Housewives:
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He has excuse after excuse but the facts remain: He’s lied to me more than once. He goes to bars while away on business with strangers! While I stay at home with our beautiful baby, he puts his health in danger, his priesthood to the wayside, contradicts our temple promises to each other…. BUT I am supposed to be understanding and loving.
Being understanding and loving makes me feel like a doormat (again) and I just want to be angry. I want an apology. I want the life back that I signed up for. I am sick of being the perfect, caring housewife who cooks his meals and does his laundry just to be treated with NO respect or concern. I’m so mad but I do still love him even though I don’t show him anymore.
So please, give me some practical advice, no sermons needed. |
Translation: “Waaah. Waaah. I want attention! Give me attention *now* because my marriage is falling apart!”
Those who rely on random people on the internet to provide moral support and advice in such situations are unfathomably weak individuals. With this brand of mentality, there is no doubt that Shelly will find herself in situations even worse than her current plight as she stumbles her way through life.
Fortunately for us, we have the intrepid writers at FMH to exploit Shelly (and others like her) as fodder for their estrogen-overloaded community.
They get to play Dr. Phil, she gets to be an attention whore.
I, on the other hand, get a cheap laugh and a pause to thank deity that I’m not tied down to one of these anti-depressant pill-popping lards.
It’s win, win!
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August 16th, 2006 in Commentary | 1 Comment »
Samsung announced today it has developed the world’s first three-inch VGA LCD panel that “directly meets industry interface standards for digital still cameras.” What this means is that future LCD screens on digital cameras will allow multimedia to be viewed at a resolution of 640×480.
In layman’s terms, expect significantly brighter, more detailed LCD displays, which will enable you to review your photography more thoroughly after you take an exposure. This innovation will make it easier to spot blurry images and ensure your photo is framed properly.
Presently, a majority of camera LCDs only display multimedia at a resolution of 320×240 — significantly lower in quality than Samsung’s new LCD.
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August 10th, 2006 in Photography | 6 Comments »
It is perhaps the understatement of the year to say that Michael F. (last name held by request) was in the wrong place at the wrong time:
I had put off coming to my Father’s homeland because there was always some kind of trouble or war going on… I figured after 10 years of peace and rebuilding here in Lebanon it was safe to come and see what where my father grew up and meet a bunch of relatives I didn’t know.
Of course the world is funny like that.
This is the story of an American visiting his grandfather’s home in the southern Lebanese village of Yarun when Hezbollah forces crossed the border and abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006. Less than three weeks later, it is reported that 750 people have perished and 800,000 more made refugees.
With Michael’s permission, we have published his diary and select photographs from the day the Israeli military operations began to his miraculous escape of the country.
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August 2nd, 2006 in Current Events, Photography, Travel | 3 Comments »
As I was dropping off my rental back in August of 2004, I made the fateful mistake of frequenting the always-interesting Windward Mall in Kaneohe.
Windward Mall is a unique juncture where anything goes — from Polynesian Square Dancing to playing the very worst music from local Hawaiian bands about 100 decibels too loud.
But what was unique about this outing was that a casting call had been recently put out for extras (these are extras mind you) for this new TV show Hawaii (original title, ain’t it?) starring Michael Biehn of all washed up actors. Naturally, everyone and their grandma showed up – the lines were backed up to outside of the doors. I estimated at least 800 people were in que by 11:00.
If this was a roll call to get in some reality TV show like Survivor, or audition for a spot that is a little more tangible than just standing behind Star-X or Star-Y I could understand and justify what had to have been a colossal waste of time & energy.
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July 10th, 2006 in Commentary | 1 Comment »
After spending three years in Hawaii, I am often asked what was the most difficult and challenging hike I completed. My response normally entails a narrowing of the eyes, followed by a far off look with my voice becoming extremly grave. On occasion, I’ve even been told I look like a Vietnam veteran going through some kind of horrendous flashback.
The hike was the “Haiku Stairway,” as the locals tend to call it. Everyone else on the face of the planet simply refers to it as the Stairway to Heaven.
On my first attempt, I was unable to finish the hike and it almost killed me.
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July 8th, 2006 in Travel | 1 Comment »
In Laie, Hawaii there are bands of rogue chickens that roam the streets searching for unsuspecting prey to terrorize. Getting used to cohabitation with these flightless wonders is something that took some getting used to. For an entire year, these midget-demons from hell would wake me up at 4am and camp outside of my window.
And yes, their numbers are many.
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July 5th, 2006 in Travel | No Comments »
Kamehameha Highway circles the island of O’ahu and is the primary junction for those in Laie to get to Honolulu and the east side. “Kam Hwy” (as us non-local haole-types tend to call it) has two very distinguishing traits:
- It is a very poorly designed highway
- It is an incredibly dangerous highway
When you you factor in these characteristics it pretty much means that you, the driver, are going to be incredibly bored waiting behind car after car going 25 miles per hour, or, having the time of your life zipping away on Kam’s curvey surface going 50-60 miles per hour.
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July 2nd, 2006 in Travel | No Comments »
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