Screengrabs from The Simpsons: The Politics of Failure Have Failed

Get down from that bookshelf, please! Most of those books haven't been discredited yet.

It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way your planet is doomed.

Don't blame ME... I voted for Kodos!

Nuke the whales? Gotta nuke sumthin!

Phone battery slow charge

My phone battery has been dying for half a year. It wouldn't charge inside the phone when the battery was low. I had to take the battery out to charge it.

After charging all night it'd still be at 80%. If I opened an app or swiped the screen too quickly or the phone was too warm, the phone would itself shut off. I thought I needed a new phone.

Today I bought a high-speed charging cable and that fixed my problem. Now my battery is fully charged.

Green light, woohoo!

Backseat tent / Car fort

At night in my car, my hands get cold and stiff when using the laptop. To solve this problem, I've set up a tent that keeps the backseat area warm.

Just a thin bed sheet will raise the temperature from 36 F to around 50 F. Insulation doesn't need to be heavy, it just needs to trap warm air from escaping.

I lashed a hammock hanging strap between the handles above the rear doors to hold the bed sheet up. Then I put a poster board over the strap to create a roof. The bed sheet hangs tucks behind the rear head rests and hangs off the poster board.

Kinda stuffy to breathe underneath the tent, but my fingers stay nimble.

Touchpad not working, device manager reports it's enabled

Problem: Touchpad not working, but device manager reports it's working.

Diagnosis: Updated drivers. Still didn't work. Thought the touchpad cable was unplugged or damaged. But Device Manager sees the device and status is enabled and reports its working. Nowhere in operating system or BIOS shows that the touchpad is "off".

Solution: There's a keyboard toggle command to enable/disable the touchpad. Press Fn + F7 on the keyboard (for Acer Aspire 7750g).


Aside: Fn + F6 is a useful command to turn on/off display. It's better than turning off through the operating system, because this way moving mouse or pressing keys does not turn screen on.

Computer Hangs After Startup For One Minute then Unfreezes

Problem: After starting up and logging in, the computer screen freezes and is unresponsive for about one minute, then unfreezes and continues loading. Can't move mouse or run any programs. Let's say I press the Windows key to open the start menu when computer is frozen, it will open when it unfreezes. Same problem happens in Linux, so it is not operating system specific.

Diagnosis: The computer is taking a long time loading a hardware driver. Looking at Event Viewer in Windows shows the system after startup waits a long time before loading Catalyst Control Center for the AMD Radeon dedicated graphics card.

Solution: Install updated device drivers for the graphics card and Catalyst Control Center software.

Popularity Contest

This is the problem with popular election in America

It's a superficial popularity contest:

• it requires no critical assessment of pros and cons toward some purpose.
• you don't need to be qualified in any way to make decisions.
• it does not require any knowledge or rational thinking from you.
• it's choosing based on emotions
• there's no wrong answer; your opinion is always right
• it's like a jury where they want you to be as ignorant as possible and swayable to their arguments and propaganda

and most importantly,

• it has no validity in determining who is the best candidate for some purpose

merit, competence, and ability
are independent of popularity
the deciding factors are
hype, attention, and sensationalism

The message we send to our children

We should not be teaching children 'which is YOUR favorite', like how you feel is so important that your opinion ought to beat someone else's. As if your emotions and opinions are the most-important-thing-in-the-world - deciding who is cool.

Who do you LIKE?
Congratulations, you are correct!
If you feel the SAME as everyone else, then you WIN!

It should be about which hero makes HIS community BETTER for EVERYONE, hero A or hero B, and name one thing he does to show that.

Oh, but that's HARD, that's like taking a test, that's not FUN or SENSATIONAL for kids so they won't want to do it. They get their cultural cues from television and commercials and marketing that's geared towards them getting what they want. whine.

We shouldn't let shopping malls and TV raise our kids because that's easier for us. We shouldn't have to pander to what children WANT because merchandisers tell them to; we have a RESPONSIBILITY of teaching them what is RIGHT.

Travel journal: "Roots of Knowledge" stained glass

"Roots of Knowledge" stained glass art

at the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
http://rootsofknowledge.com/rok/

Epic. Incredible. Gorgeous. 

To appreciate this wonderful creation was a humbling and uplifting experience!

This stained glass art displays the richness of human endeavor and progress
painted and pieced together over a twelve year project
eighty intricate, meticulously hand painted, detailed panels
installed into a concave wall of the modern and elegant main library

Roots of Knowledge will anchor an undulating wall of windows at UVU’s library entrance comprising 80 individual panes totaling 10 feet in height and 200 feet in length.

Collaborative effort between the university president, Holdman Studios and over forty artists.

Conceived by Utah artist Tom Holdman and Utah Valley University President Matthew S. Holland, Roots of Knowledge combines the work and guidance of 40+ professional artists, 26 UVU scholars, and more than 350 UVU students, as well as Roots Media, which is filming a documentary of the project.

Plato and Socrates

Renaissance

King John (?) and the Magna Carta

Music and Science

Development of writing.

Sun Tzu's Art of War
孫子兵法

OMG, top left 'Where the Wild Things Are!'
How did you get on there!? You lovable manster!

'0.99999999 = 1'

Age of Invention

The first panel of the exhibition shows the origin of man represented by a mythical tree. Perhaps Eve, picking from the Tree of Knowledge, or a forest naiad on great Yggdrasil, or the cosmic tree Asvattha, or any variant of the tree motif. http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Trees-in-Mythology.html

origins of man represented by a tree

The last panel shows a little girl, book in hand, striding alone into the future.

On her dress is written a poem by 13th century Persian poet, Rumi:

Its your road, and yours alone.
others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you

With the cosmos ahead of her and bright planets lighting up a dark universe from which we came, to which we go searching for an unknown future ahead of us. White wisps and tendrils obscuring the path below her feet. Strong, brave, with the wisdom of all the generations of mankind at her back she leads.



Kinda makes this other stained art piece above the library look like crap. Hahaha.

Reading Notes: Asperger's On the Job

Asperger's on the job. by rudy simone 978-1-935274-09-4

use your area of strength

to avoid errors and miscommunication, I always asked for very explicit instructions to clarify what people expected of me.

I also had problems remembering long strings of verbal instructions.

It is a good idea to get clear instructions in writing so you have something concrete to refer to over the course of your project.

(I agree with the good intentions, trouble with this is... people often aren't good at describing explicitly what they want. That's why people don't get what they want. They don't know exactly what they are looking for. They don't know how to give accurate instructions. They can't write code computer software correctly. If an employee was simply a machine that carried out the boss's instructions, it would do the work correct but the work would be all wrong.

Data science professor at George Mason gave personal anecdote when designing databases for NASA, how they built the thing exactly to specification and their bosses were unhappy because they requested the wrong database.

So people are going to be upset when they have to give clear written instructions. Because then if you do the job and it doesn't work, it's their fault. Their ass is on the line anyways as the boss, so they *should* make it straightforward for you to do your job. But in a political work environment where it's unclear what is going on, managers don't need to play nice, and aren't responsible when they don't have to be and will weasel a way out of blame and take credit when they can whether they deserve to or not.)

It is important to find, or create, a sensory environment that is conducive to your needs.

(Create is the keyword. You need to work out a solution to get the most out of your area of strength. You can't just grin and bear an average person's environment while your mind and your work quality suffers. You can't just mire in mediocrity with people who have no talent and punch in and punch out. You *need* to access your talent to overcome the 'normal things' that don't bother other people but will affect you.)

avoid jealousy

the jealous coworker felt insecure about his own talent and was worried that the Aspie's drawings were "too good."

I learned that people got jealous because designing was so easy for me. I learned to combat jealousy by allowing the jealous person to be more involved in my project. I would ask the person for advice or compliment him/her.

I usually finished a drawing really quickly, but to avoid jealousy, I would often wait two or three days before I would send it to the client.


to be successful, I had to show samples of my work to potential employers instead of selling myself. you need to save and take home paper copies of your best work.

(When you suck at bullshitting people, but you are legit talented... you keep it real. But to do that you need that proof, so don't ever throw away what you've accomplished.)

however, articles on extreme politics, sex, or religion should never be included.

(You are not expected to have opinions or expose the evil workings of society while contributing to an organization that is part of the evil. That could jeopardize the big scam that keeps everybody in line and enslaved to work. You are a skilled lapdog. Sit. Good boy.)


[above preface was written by Temple Grandin]

the majority of adults with Asperger's I spoke to had great difficulty earning a living. Most were on unemployment, welfare, or disability; some were still living off their parents; others were surviving only because they were married and their spouse had a good income and health insurance.


I had thought I was the only one who, despite many practical gifts, did not fit into the world of full-time employment. This has ... negatively impacted my self-esteem, finances, relationships, and health.

(It's not a meritocracy. Exceptional talent or skill, even if worked hard at and developed, is not the one essential criteria for success. We don't value people for their ability, we value the profit they generate for ourselves and nominally compensate them.


Excess merit can have the opposite effect, when it threatens balance in the workplace. When you gain too much attention or reward for yourself, and people around you can't find a way to take advantage of it, they want you gone. Because what keeps people on 'friendly terms', prevents them from taking advantage over one another is not moral principles or because they like you. It's because neither you or the other has the capacity to take advantage and use the other.


Above all, to be 'safe' requires conformity - and as part of fitting in, it requires a sufficient degree of mediocrity. (At least an outward appearance of mediocrity, like waiting a few days to turn in work that you finished, so people don't get jealous.) My Mom summed up her workplace philosophy: don't be exceptional in any way or have other people talk about you except about the exceptional the work you do. You don't want people to notice you for your opinions, your drama, the way you dress, or your personal life. She was right, but she was also basically saying, be a productive robot and be all but invisible.

When you exceed their capacity, then you become an enemy because you have the power to use them and they do not want to be helpless. Whether you have harmful intentions or not, it is unacceptable to them. Because people are unwilling to put themselves at risk. Society doesn't develop people to be strong and brave and noble. People are weak and petty and fearful.)

there are cultural differences between those with the syndrome and those without.

in the workplace, where a person is essentially held captive for a large portion of the day

[vs]the AS person's social anxieties and independent spirit.


those with Asperger's possess some extremely useful, important, creative, and marketable skills that employers are missing out on. Likewise, employers hold the paychecks, and those are what people with AS are largely missing out on.

(see that's the difference that accounts for why they're not hired. Because they don't care about your usefulness, importance, or creativity. they care about your profitability. that's the one deciding criteria for companies, how to make money. if you don't neuter your talents to serve their cashflow, you are not desirable.


and it's terrible tragedy to sell out your 'god-given' gift for a demeaning, stifled, belittled corporate job. it's a crime, highway robbery to trade in your usefulness, importance, creativity in exchange for working for the man. "oh but i have no choice" argument immediately pops up, "i have to earn money". struggle for life is necessity. struggle for money is indoctrinated.


money works because we ALL BELIEVE in its necessity. but money is no substitute for life, it is a substitute for POWER. and the form power takes is MALLEABLE. 

Money can become irrelevant - hyperinflation in an ECONOMIC COLLAPSE and your currency is worthless, WAR what good is your money when I kill your men and I take your womens, DISEASE so you have $100 million dollars why don't you walk into Walgreens and buy The Cure For Cancer (R)?, RELIGION/CULT ok so you can pay a guy to mow your lawn for $15/hr but I can get 100 guys to harvest my lima beans for accepting my love,

FAME/POPULARITY so if good honest Abraham Lincoln, Ghandi, and Princess Diana all somehow showed up alive at your door, you wouldn't invite them in for dinner? because currently our president is not the most likeable, although if you voted for him you probably would be more inclined to than the other three. SEX, known as the 'oldest profession'. we have seen the extraordinary lengths life will go to a pretty face, from Helen of Troy whose face launched a thousand ships to war, to scandals and affairs of the most powerful politicians and business leaders, to the vast terabytes and petabytes, and zettabytes of porn that was the primary widespread of the internet

POWER in any of its forms (Money or not) can be used as a stranglehold on life, it is not life itself)

Abraham Lincoln,
Vampire Hunter?

Barbara Nichols

[
Aspergians usually want to be social but find it nearly impossible to figure out how to behave in a social setting or how to maintain social relationships.

It is awkward for them to jump into a conversation and they report that they can't figure out how to add to the discussion without taking it off the track.

They struggle with sleep, eating, digestive, and sensory problems... and have trauma-related disorders.

Loneliness is their constant companion.

Asperger's ... can hyperfocus on one topic and have a tenacity that is matchless... they love information.

Once they have learned that they are not inferior... they begin to appreciate themselves and their considerable talents.

The culture at large has not accepted them as yet. Finding a niche in the world is what is needed and those lucky enough to find it excel and contribute significantly.
]

(Tear. That's the hope for making peace with society.)

people with AS often have difficulty obtaining and keeping jobs. the main reasons boil down to:

Not being able to utilize their natural strengths and inherent interests.


it is important that a potential employer does not assume that this history stems from a lack of desire to work. There may not be a harder-working segment of the human race.

(Tear. how painful it is when I work earnestly, harder and there's no one to know, no validation, even though it is exceptional with honest upright character - while entitled people get elevated and attention for corrupt behavior.)

AJ Mahari on appearing 'normal'

"sometimes it feels invalidating, a little less than respectful of my life experience and what I struggle with... Really what's behind that is a tremendous legacy of work. If you only knew what I have had to map out, read about, learn, study, analyze, process, slice and dice, and put back together in my own way; I mean, virtually everything. I've had to do a lot of work to be able to do what I do."

(If superficial people knew how many internal battles are lost and won, for an outward victory. What they see is just the tip of an iceberg.)

those who get their self-diagnosis wrong, if they have most of the traits of AS then the same methods of coping, the same strategies will apply.

Being misread, doubted, having our positive qualities overlooked, and blamed for our "faults," is quite common among us.

(That's right. What difference does a label make? Its purpose is to identify common qualities so we can talk about their challenges and common solutions. So if the symptom applies, then Asperger's or normal, diagnosed or not, it doesn't matter.)

most who claim to have AS have done their research and feel quite confident that the syndrome fits their profile. AS is not something that someone would want to have, just to get special attention or concessions.

It is not an excuse, it is a reason.

(Claiming a disorder that ostracizes you with no financial compensation or benefits... and then faking what is a very difficult condition to suffer... has nothing to gain. They may not identify accurately, but the point is to characterize the individual's differences and understand how to improve interactions with this person. It means both parties have work to do, and for the person without disability to understand the extra work that the disabled person has to do all the time, and make some extra effort on their part to accommodate.

One thing I can't stand is when people won't work on their character defects because of a separate disorder. Just because you have a disorder doesn't make you otherwise a perfect person. And it doesn't excuse you from building character. I don't expect a person with a disability to be capable of everything, but I do expect that person to do best of his ability and to try. Same as I expect everyone else.)

If your employee blew you away at interview only to have a swift and steep decline, don't think they lied to you or misrepresented themselves and their abilities. Understand that the capable, confident person that you hired is in there, but is getting diminished or obscured by certain environmental or social aspects of the job.

(I don't hate my job. I hate that I am being manipulated and kept from doing it.)

Allison

"I should try to understand that people love all these social aspects; she even said I should 'fake it' and fit in. I responded that I've survived this many years faking it as well as I can, all the time. But living life as a phony and not feeling human - these are the things everyone seems to tolerate and expect, especially at work. It hurts me. I can't keep it up."

(Understand that 'normal' for me is not being you. Acceptance of differences. How does a person who is different 'make' people accept him? She can't. Faking it to fit in is not accepting yourself, and if you don't first accept and respect yourself, others will not truly accept you.

But what she can do is exemplify the best of her differences so that people might choose to be more understanding and if they don't, do not take personally those people who can't see past superficial qualities.)

Article Notes: 10 Things Americans Don't Know About America

Notes and comments and responses to
"10 Things Americans Don't Know About America"
https://markmanson.net/america

As Americans, we’re brought up our entire lives being taught that we’re the best, we did everything first and that the
rest of the world follows our lead. Not only is this not true, but people get irritated when you bring it to their country

with you.

(And as a patriotic American, your first and only gut reaction is to feel an overwhelming emotion 'No!' and throw as much bible verses and lies and slander at the truth to make it go away.)

most people in the world don’t really think about us or care about us.

(But *I* think about *ME* all the time! So how could this be true? My emotions tell me this observation is wrong and that's all the counter-evidence I need.)

Remember that immature girl in high school, how every little thing that happened to her meant that someone either
hated her or was obsessed with her; who thought every teacher who ever gave her a bad grade was being totally

unfair and everything good that happened to her was because of how amazing she was? Yeah, we’re that immature

high school girl.

(That girl in my class was distinctly American, and not how I was raised. How we raise our children is a clear reflection of ourselves, our own behavior.)

For all of our talk about being global leaders and how everyone follows us, we don’t seem to know much about our

supposed “followers.

(Americans don't really understand leadership. They act as if when you are a leader, your followers don't matter. But by definition to lead you must have followers. Followers are not people on Facebook who give you a "like" and boost your popularity. Check in to get a cheap laugh. That's not real leadership. 

Americans think of 'leader' as 'IM THE BEST' so every American considers himself to be a leader, because his culture teaches him that he is the best. So being a leader to an American simply means, "I am better than you and this truth is inherent and doing the things I do only validates that truth, not that I actually have to do things in order to be better than you, doing things only shows you i'm better, and even if I did nothing at all I would still be the best and that fact is indisputable". 

This flawed concept of leadership has nothing to do with actually LEADING anyone ANYWHERE for ANY PURPOSE or for ANYONE ELSE'S SAKE. 

A real leader is not just popular or well-liked... his actions need to benefit his group not just himself and he needs to set an example for others to aspire to their own goals. A good leader cares about his followers and puts their interests first.

Just like we rarely think about the people in Bolivia or Mongolia, most people don’t

think about us much. They have jobs, kids, house payments — you know, those things called lives — to worry

about. Kind of like us.

(I thought people in other countries just gathered around bible burning, women-raping, freedom-hating, decapitating, firing AK-47 in the air, putting white sheets on their heads. Or creepy weirdo admirers who spent their entire lives watching their American counterparts with cheek pressed to the Television screen, caressing their electrostatic faces and murmuring their affections. Well except for the rest of the world being aboriginal savages dying to malaria.

No wait, book burning, lynching, gun toting, white hooded men sounds more like Americans. Coed raping sounds like our college athletes. Freedom hating like our corporate empire of Walmarts, McDonald's, and our everywhere-identical selection of minimum wage retail stores. )

It’s not all about us. The world is more complicated.

In our social
lives we don’t say what we mean and we don’t mean what we

say.

Feelings are almost never
shared openly and freely. Consumer culture has cheapened our language of gratitude. Something like, “It’s so good

to see you” is empty now because it’s expected and heard from everybody.

(Americans are fake as fuck. They will say, I didn't want to hurt someone's feelings and lie to that person's face, then not answer their phone or show up to an event with that person. They don't care how the other person feels. They care how they themselves feel if that person reacts unhappily by saying them saying no.

Americans compliments and words of affection mean jack shit. Calling your significant other 'honey' all the time. Saying 'I love you' after every conversation. Motions. So you don't *seem like a bad person* is all that is. Lying is more than acceptable; it is encouraged. Americans think it's better to lie remorselessly than to tell an unpleasant truth.)

In dating, when I find a woman attractive, I almost always walk right up to her and tell her that a) I wanted to meet
her, and b) she’s beautiful. In America, women usually get incredibly nervous and confused when I do this. They’ll

make jokes to defuse the situation... they get a bit disoriented when I’m so blunt with my interest.
Whereas, in almost every other culture approaching women this way is met with a confident smile and a “Thank

you.”

(Tell the plain truth to an American and he'll think less of you for being simple.)

If you’re extremely talented or intelligent, the US is probably the best place in the world to live. The system is

stacked heavily

(for the top 1% corporate tycoons and the 'trickle down wealth' keyword being 'trickle' so disproportionately to tools and those with special talents to make their wealth worthwhile.)

The problem with the US is that everyone thinks they are of talent and advantage. As John Steinbeck famously said,
the problem with poor Americans is that “they don’t believe they’re poor, but rather temporarily embarrassed

millionaires.” It’s this culture of self-delusion that allows America to continue

...  But this shared delusion also unfortunately keeps perpetuating large social

inequalities and the quality of life for the average citizen lower

(American Dream and God is what the bottom 99% get, that convinces them they would be in the top 1% if it only weren't for illegal aliens and gay marriage.)

American people on average work more hours with less

vacation, spend more time commuting every day, and are saddled with over $10,000 of debt.

(Debt is what fuels the American economy. It is a giant pyramid scheme of people all over the world buying into the American Dream. Well, debt plus our largest military budget in the world.)

As Americans, we have this naïve assumption that people all over the world are struggling and way behind us.

They’re not.

almost every place I’ve visited

(especially in Asia and South America) is much nicer and safer than I expected it to be.

(Technology has made leaps and bounds in Shanghai, Japan, Europe. There the resources of an entire nation have been put to use for better infrastructure. But our leadership does not come from the state. We are driven by money for the top 1%. Not for the nation's best interest. If it doesn't make the top 1% money, we don't do it - so we don't have mag-lev trains because we want consumers to buy cars and gasoline or undertake massive country-scale civil engineering projects like Three-Gorges Dam - not since Eerie canal which was initiated by private enterprise, demanded by companies making money out west, and finally pushed through allowed by the government. We don't care what type of value we create for our society, as long as it makes money. We build new football stadiums.

Like in this past election showed, people don't care what our country is investing our resources FOR. All they care about is that there are JOBS (not what the PURPOSE of the work is) and having MONEY. )

In the US, security trumps everything, even liberty. We’re paranoid.

You don’t have to watch Fox News or CNN for more than 10 minutes to hear about how our drinking water
is going to kill us, our neighbor is going to rape our children, some terrorist in Yemen is going to kill us because wedidn’t torture him, Mexicans are going to kill us, or some virus from a bird is going to kill us. There’s a reason we

have nearly as many guns as people

I’ve probably been to 10 countries now that friends and family back home told me explicitly not to go because
someone was going to kill me, kidnap me, stab me, rob me, rape me, sell me into sex trade, give me HIV, or

whatever else. None of that has happened. I’ve never been robbed and I’ve walked through some of the shittiest

parts of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

(Even in America, people are afraid of leaving the city or walking bad neighborhoods. Sleeping in cities outside at night on my bicycle trip across America made me realize this is an irrational fear. Look, the days of bandits roaming the countryside killing for a living are gone. People have little to no interest in doing you in for no reason. They are slaves to their jobs concerned for their own survival.)

In countries like Russia, Colombia or Guatemala, people were so
honest and open with me, it actually scared me. Some stranger in a bar would invite me to his house for a barbeque
with his family, a random person on the street would offer to show me around and give me directions to a store I was

trying to find.  My American instincts were always that, “Wait, this guy is going to try to rob me or kill me,” but they

never did. They were just insanely friendly

(An Italian friend said if you complimented something in their house as a guest, they'd give it to you as a gift when you left. In China there used to be that custom too. Material goods are not as important in other cultures as relationships. It's common for good business relations and personal friends to exchange materials of high value, whereas Americans despite being the richest nation in the world we express our token good esteem with gift cards at holiday time and regifted junk that WE don't want, not what the other person wants.)

[

the way we Americans communicate is usually designed to create a lot of attention and hype.
Again, I think this is a product of our consumer culture: the belief that something isn’t worthwhile or important unless
it’s perceived to be the best (BEST EVER!!!) or unless it gets a lot of attention (see: every reality-television show

ever made).

This is why Americans have a peculiar habit of thinking everything is “totally awesome,” and even the most mundane
activities were “the best thing ever!” It’s the unconscious drive we share for importance and significance, this

unmentioned belief, socially beaten into us since birth that if we’re not the best at something, then we don’t matter.

]

(I love this description. Consumer culture - we ADVERTISE ourselves constantly for VALIDATION of our cultural delusion that WE ARE THE BEST
I would rephrase it: we have a

 belief, socially beaten into us since birth that we're the best at something, and that is what gives us importance and significance.

when actually, being "First!" one to comment or going to the "best show ever" doesn't have any connection to our worth as human beings)

"My MBA is better than your MBA"
Because I drive an Audi.

We’re status-obsessed...

attempting to out-do one another has infiltrated our social relationships as well. Who can

slam the most beers first? Who can get reservations at the best restaurant? Who knows the promoter to the club?
Who dated a girl on the cheerleading squad? Socializing becomes objectified and turned into a competition. And if

you’re not winning, the implication is that you are not important and no one will like you.

(Again, I love this description. There is a subconscious understanding ingrained from teenage years that you have to WIN at socializing, or NO ONE likes you.

It's not about having friends because there are people you want to spend time with. It's about winning AT having friends (being friends with the best, the coolest, the most popular) so you don't  get left out and have no one to talk to.)

Our food is killing us. I’m not going to go crazy with
the details, but we eat chemically-laced crap because it’s cheaper and tastes better (profit, profit). Our portion sizes
are absurd (more profit). And we’re by far the most prescribed nation in the world AND our drugs cost five to ten

times more than they do even in Canada (ohhhhhhh, profit, you sexy bitch).

(not to mention soda and beer, the all but the only two choices of beverage, which are both not healthy.)

Americans believe it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself and make

something of yourself, not the state’s, not your community’s, not even your friend’s or family’s

Comfort is easy. It requires no effort and no work. Happiness takes effort. It

requires being proactive, confronting fears, facing difficult situations, and having unpleasant conversations. 

Comfort sells easier than happiness. We’ve been sold comfort for generations, and for generations we bought bigger houses,

separated further and further out into the suburbs, along with bigger TV’s, more movies, and take-out. The American

public is becoming docile and complacent. We’re obese and entitled.

we look for giant hotels that

will insulate us and pamper us

[rather than]  challenge our perspectives or

help us grow as individuals.

(INSULATE us is the key observation. We as Americans are fearful of the outside world, and afraid of difficulty, pain, hardships, and like a nation going into decline... we want to think everything is GREAT inside and keep things the way they were and lalalala clap our ears to the CHANGES happening around us.)

Depression and anxiety disorders are soaring within the US. Our inability to confront anything unpleasant around us
has not only created a national sense of entitlement, but it’s disconnected us from what actually drives happiness:

relationships, unique experiences, feeling self-validated, achieving personal goals.

(People don't want to ACHIEVE anything. They don't want to work through the completion of a goal, they just want the anticipated reward. They claw through, and scathe an "education" to earn a high salary. They don't care about the actual, stated purpose - to foster their mind, develop their intellectual capabilities, enrich their awareness of life.

They want drugs and superficial 'happiness' (that amounts to artificial sweetner pleasure - all the taste, none of the calories!), and don't want a HARD time getting it. Whiny types of 'depressed' people who didn't have the good luck or good looks of their entitled, BEST EVER, peers are beside themselves at how life is SO UNFAIR, that they didn't get the entitled things they deserve - but infuriatingly enough, don't reject the crooked belief system. They're not mad that the culture emphasizes social inequality, they are petulant that others are on top because they wish they were and are not. They don't deserve sympathy. Hate the game, not the player!

Relationships are in decline. People don't put effort into other people, they put effort into things, and entertainment, and status.

This environment of unfulfilling pursuits fosters depression - because the chasers of consumer culture don't look for substance and they are empty and unhappy and people who *are* looking for substance have their voices drowned out by chasers - (remember, chasers are ADVERTISEMENTs walking billboards creating lots of ATTENTION and HYPE), and have to go against the current, so they have a hard time connecting with others and finding it - if they are strong enough to resist becoming a quiet passive chaser themselves)

we’re able to avoid the necessary emotional

struggles of life and instead indulge in easy, superficial pleasures.

every dominant civilization eventually collapsed because it became TOO successful. What

made it powerful and unique grows out of proportion and consumes its society.

We’re complacent, entitled and unhealthy. My generation is the first generation of Americans who will be

worse off than their parents, economically, physically and emotionally.

And this is not due to a lack of resources, to a
lack of education or to a lack of ingenuity. It’s corruption and complacency. The corruption from the massive

industries that control our government’s policies, and the fat complacency of the people

the

greatest flaw of American culture is our blind self-absorption

in hopes [America]’ll give up his wayward ways. I imagine it’ll fall on deaf ears, but it’s the most I can do for

now. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some funny cat pictures to look at.

 i can has Merica?