Memorial Day

35 million people died in WWI
60 million in WWII
2-4 million were killed in the Korean War
2-4 million in Vietnam
150,000-600,000 were killed in Iraq

In all these wars civilians bore the brunt of the death and suffering
Innocents
Memorial day is not for military heroes
Not for our 'brave' troops
Not a day for our flags, our nationalism
Memorial day is for remembering the absolute insanity of war
And to pause, listen, and learn from the anguished cries of millions

Don't poop in the living room

There are those that believe the worlds oceans too large, their capacity to absorb our pollution too great, for us to ever have to worry. They are wrong.

What Next?

Enlightenment comes only after we evolve past human
Our flaws too rich for such 
But can any intelligence ever really know true enlightenment
For as an intelligence's sphere of knowledge expands
so to the area of unknown surrounding it
Intelligence, it seems then, is always in pursuit
and isn't enlightenment - still?
Human as a species has less than 100 years left
What's next?
Most certainly it will be billions of times more intelligent than us
Whatever it is, coming from us, it will remain forever curious, forever on the move
and therefore, by definition - forever flawed
This gives me great joy

Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism

Conservative political ideology in Western democracies may be identified by several components, including an emphasis on personal responsibility, acceptance of hierarchy, and a preference for the status quo. These ideological components map closely onto non-ideological psychological processes, which support attitudes consistent with political conservatism. We describe how attitudes and behaviors consistent with these components increase as a consequence of thinking that requires little time, effort, or awareness. From this starting point, we develop the argument that political conservatism is promoted when people rely on low-effort thinking. When effortful, deliberate responding is disrupted or disengaged, thought processes become quick and efficient; these conditions promote conservative ideology.

Scott Eidelman, Christian  Crandall, Jeffrey A. Goodman, and John C. Blanchar,  Pers Soc Psychol Bull published online 16 March 2012

http://psp.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/03/16/0146167212439213.full.pdf+html

Destiny

Sad, really.
Our destiny
Something, beyond us - the end of who we are.
Never meant for greatness
humankind then -  a next step.

Listen to the MUSTN'TS

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child
Listen to the DONT'S
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child
ANYTHING can be

by Shel Silverstein

Conservative 'Thinking'

Conservative thinking is low effort thinking
Complexities reduced to black and white - unknowns and shades of gray replaced by rigid structure and over-simplification
At its basis - fear of an uncertain, complex, and confusing world
Such thinking results in rigidness of thought, purposeful ignorance
It lies at the heart of racism, bigotry, hate, repressiveness
It is a fearful, rigid resistance to progress and revelation and can in the end therefore only, finally, fail
For fear is the price nature extracts for imagination, wisdom - enlightment
It is the reason there is courage and must always be overcome