Recently in society Category

This past Wednesday night, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was lit in New York City in front of the thousands that were in attendance and the millions that watched from their living rooms.

The Christmas season has officially begun in America.

There's a sick irony in crime fighting. Fighting is a crime. Killing is a crime. But crime fighters fight. And crime fighters kill. They must.

People die during crimes and people die as punishment for those crimes. This, again, is a conundrum. Death beget death? This article isn't about capital punishment, but keep it in mind.

Recently, as in yesterday, kottke linked to a story about a man who started his own personal challenge to widdle his possessions down until he had only 100 things remaining. The premise immediately intrigued me. As any regular reader knows, I struggle with the consumption obsessed nature of our country. Individuals such as the No Impact Man are very inspirational. But as much as I try to live with some of those 'minimalist' goals in my own life I feel most of the time I am really no different then most everyone else and the thought of actually only possessing 100 things seems exceedingly far fetched. We all have 'stuff' and as much as we would like to not be so cluttered at home, some of it, while seldom used, holds certain sentimental value. Else, why would we possess it? But is clutter, also known in some cases as sentimental 'stuff' really so bad?

First off, I don't speak like that.

I text full words and capitalize when need be. I actually write out, "In my honest opinion." But some people don't. Even the Freakonomics guys say, "IMHO." They are very smart, the Freakonomics guys. Very smart.
So, using Text-speak does not preclude anyone from being smart. That's first.

But what I'm here to do is defend the young bucks. They are not dumb.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

My girlfriend and I have decided to go organic. There are a variety of reasons for the decision, but mainly, we are doing it for our overall well-being. She and I are both pretty stingy about what we put into our bodies, and with recent discoveries about the statuses of our personal health in relation to our desired professions, the shift only made sense. Sure, the price tag is a little higher than we're used to, but the benefits we seek are worth the few extra bucks. And I have to tell you; it's been about one month since we made the decision, and both of us feel great about it. We've turned food shopping from a tiresome chore into an event, making every Sunday into a field trip with visits to Whole Foods and the local farmer's market.