Monthly Challenges: February and March

My December self-challenge was to read 45 minutes of non-fiction every day. Challenge accomplished.

My January self-challenge was to eat soup, stew, or chili for lunch every day. Challenge accomplished.

My February self-challenge was to exercise a total of 2.5 hours per week. Challenge… failed. Miserably, horribly, sadly, failed.

The month started out well, but as often seems to be the case with my efforts to exercise more, I was unable to sustain it.

Now in my defense, I was stupid to set this as my goal for February. (Yes, I’m using the stupidity defense.) My February included an overnight business trip to Chicago, a four-day business trip to Seattle, a two-day personal trip to Missouri, and a seven-day personal trip to Texas. Getting into a good habit of exercising is challenging when you’re coming and going so often and living out of a suitcase. Granted, it’s also challenging when you’ve spent so much of your life NOT regularly exercising.

So I’m actually going to make March a “Double Challenge” month by carrying my February challenge forward for March, AND adding the March challenge I had already planned. So what is that one?

I have obstructive sleep apnea. I have a CPAP machine I’m supposed to be using every night as I sleep. If you’re not familiar with a CPAP, it’s a mask I’m supposed to wear, strapped to my face, that blows continuous air up my nose and into my lungs to keep my throat from collapsing in my sleep. I’m guessing that most of you know a bit about sleep apnea and CPAPs, but if you don’t, and if you want to know more, there’s a ton of info online.

I struggle to sleep wearing my CPAP, and even when I do go to sleep wearing it, I often wake up to find I took it off during the night.

So here are my self-challenges for March:

1. 2.5 hours of exercise/activity a week
2. Make a “real effort” to wear my CPAP every night.

I really hope I’m able to discipline myself to do these two things… I’d hate to have to make April a triple-challenge month…

How Far Would We Go to Get Where We Want to Get?

Have you heard of Operation Northwoods?  I find this completely fascinating.

It was 1962. Cuba had become a communist country and was seen as a threat. The Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were working to define a U.S. approach to this threat. Together, they decided that the best defense is a great offense, and they decided attacking Cuba would be the approach to take. But you can’t simply attack Cuba, the U.S. doesn’t do that sort of thing. It would look bad to our allies, as well as Cuba’s allies, if we initiated an unprovoked military attack. So it was decided we should create provocation.

The best way to garner allied supporters, and to gain some level of understanding from our enemies, would be to attack Cuba in response to a terrorist attack by Cuba against the U.S. While it may have been possible to goad Cuba into such an action, it would be much easier to simply initiate that action ourselves. Let me say that differently – the U.S. could best justify their desire to initiate a military attack on Cuba by carrying out an act of terrorism against America and Americans and just be sure that Cuba gets the blame.

I know what you’re probably thinking, that I’m a 9/11 truther, that I’m making this up. I’m not a 9/11 truther, but I’m also not making this up. This was the plan put together by the leading military minds in our government. And it wasn’t a casual idea thrown out briefly in a “no holds barred” brainstorming session. It was a thorough document written and submitted suggesting a “false flag” attack to allow us to “retaliate” against Cuba.

We didn’t do it. President Kennedy rejected the idea. BUT, what have we learned. We’ve learned that this repulsive idea has occurred in the highest levels of our government at least as far back as 52 years ago, and likely both before then and since then. We’ve learned that those in the highest levels of the military industrial machine will start with the end of the sentence “… so we must attack them” and then at least consider whatever it takes to get there. We’ve learned that there are likely few limits on how far our government is willing to go to get to where they want to get.

Death Came Knockin’ on My Uncle’s Door

Have you ever watched a person die? I’m not talking about a death in a movie with an actor portraying someone dying. And I’m not talking about watching one of the many, many online videos of people really dying. Have you every physically been with someone and watched the life slip from their body?

I have. Twice.

Years ago I was teaching a computer programming class when one of my students had a heart attack and died. He fought hard, and we did all we could with CPR, paramedics, a defibrillator, and an ambulance, but death won in the end.

Years later I was with my father when he died. He was in the E.R. being kept alive by the machines. The doctors assured us that there was no hope, that the best thing we could do was “pull the plug” and let him pass quickly. We did, but he didn’t. A couple of hours later they admitted my comatose father to a room. An hour or so later, while my wife, my sister, and I watched, his breathing slowed and eventually stopped. He was gone.

The first death was a fight, shocking and jarring. The second death was oddly calming, and peaceful. It was like listening to a favorite classic song slowly fade out.

I got a phone call a couple of days ago that one of my Uncles has died. His health was failing and this wasn’t a shock, but it’s a loss.

Of all of my aunts and uncles, this was my favorite. I mean that from the bottom of my heart, but ironically I’ve hardly interacted with him for decades. And to be completely honest with you, I have very few specific, detailed memories of this Uncle from my childhood. But when I think of him, I smile. He always smiled, he always laughed. It was that simple. He loved his wife, he loved his kids, he loved life, and he radiated that life was good.

And ultimately that is what I think we must take from death. Life is good.

So tonight, I’m thinking about my Uncle’s death. I’m thinking about my father, and my student, my son, my friend’s sons, and everyone whose death has touched me, and I’m crying. But it’s ok. Because I’m also thinking of my daughters, and my sons, and the rest of my family and friends whose lives touch me every day, and I’m good.

Tonight is one of those nights where I am starkly aware that life is short, but equally aware that life is good.

In honor of my Uncle, I give you the amazing Ruthie Foster. You should listen to the song.

Evidence Snobs are Missing the Point

Many of you have seen this video making the rounds:

For those of you who haven’t seen it, and are now reading this without watching it, here are the main points. White guy tried to “break in to” a car on a busy street for 30 minutes, nobody cares (including the cop car that drives by, stops and watches for a minute, then moves on). Black guy tries to “break in to” the same car on the same busy street. Very concerned onlookers watch for a minute or two but are then relieved to see the police – multiple officers – show up in less than 2 minutes to handcuff, frisk, and question the black guy about his suspicious activities.

This reminds me of the story of the woman who struggled to get any reaction from her resume until she changed her “persona” from black to white.

Stories like this polarize the consumers. I am 100% convinced that racism against blacks is alive and well in the U.S. No, it’s not what it was 200 years ago, or even 20 years ago, it’s different. But it’s not even close to being dead and gone. Stories like this are just bricks in the wall of evidence for me. But there are those who don’t agree with me and my side on this topic. There are those who feel that racism is dead and gone. There are those who feel racism exists, but is equal and all directions between and races, so it all “zeros out.” And there are those who feel like stories like this are “just anecdotal” and they “don’t prove anything.”

Evidence snobs are missing the point.

Videos like this aren’t intended to be irrefutable evidence proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that one position is undoubtedly wrong and another is undoubtedly right. Framing this as a failed attempt to provide irrefutable evidence for something is a logical fallacy called “Straw Man.”

Anecdotal evidence isn’t the same as empirical evidence, but it is evidence. If I have one story about racism (or any other topic), it’s an anecdote. But if I have 100, or 1,000, or 1,000,000 stories on the same topic, demonstrating the same point, it’s still anecdotal evidence, but it’s a LOT of anecdotal evidence, and the weight of that evidence does matter.

Oh, and for the record, I’m right on the racism stuff… and this video is part of my evidence 🙂

It’s Hard to Keep a Prophet Down

Today I want to talk about a man named Peter Popoff.

In the early 1980s Popoff had a booming career as a TV preacher and traveling healer. By 1986 he was making an estimated four million dollars a year.

Had you attended one of his performances at that time you would have certainly been amazed. He would call someone out of the audience by their full name! He would dramatically name the healings they were hoping to get, as well as incredibly specific information such as their physical address and the names of their children. It was impressive. Popoff claimed God was whispering the information into his ear.

But then famed skeptic and debunker James Randi began to investigate.

Randi discovered that as the faithful were filing in for the revival meetings, they were filling out prayer request cards which were then submitted to Popoff’s staff. These cards included their full names, the healings they were hoping to get, and incredibly specific information such as their physical address and the names of their children.

Randi brought in a scanner and soon discovered and amazing transmission.

Popoff’s wife was backstage with the prayer cards and a microphone, and Popoff was wearing a small received in one ear. It wasn’t God whispering in Popoff’s ear, it was his wife. Now initially Popoff denied this, claiming it was harassment and that Randi had hired an actress that sounded like Mrs. Popoff. But soon he admitted that the transmissions were real, but that it didn’t really matter because everyone knew that Mrs. Popoff was occasionally helping him with information.

Randy had pulled back the curtain and exposed the wizard. Popoff’s business quickly dwindled, and soon he filed for bankruptcy and retired. For a while…

See, he’s back. Evidently it’s been long enough. He’s back with incredible claims, over the top emotional productions, and throngs of adoring fans eager to hand over their money. His web site says that the “… means are different…” the goal remains the same. And so do the results. His “Debt Cancellation Kits” (which include a small vial of “Miracle Spring Water”) are selling like hotcakes.

If I had less self respect, lower morals, and a sociopathic ability to screw people over with a smile, I’d consider getting in this prophet business. It looks like a lot of fun (for everyone but the people giving up the little cash they have to a manipulative showman in hopes of a miracle that isn’t coming). It’s certainly a lucrative, and very forgiving business though.

The Differences Between Our Side and Their Side

A lot of my friends are very opinionated on topics like politics, economics, and global warming. They love to discuss these topics (aka they love to state their opinion), and they love to debate people with opposing views (aka they love to personally insult people who think differently). In the past couple of weeks two of my friends have referred to people on the “other side” of their argument as “sheep” or “sheeple.” The interesting thing here is that one of them was a liberal referring to conservatives, and the other was a conservative referring to liberals.

So, since we’re no longer willing to debate topics by point and conclusion, since we’re no longer willing to see our opinions as anything but obvious facts, and since we’re no longer willing to even consider the idea that other people – people who might be just as intelligent and just as informed as we are – might have a different opinion without being evil or stupid and misled sheep, I thought I’d put together some statements we can all rally around. We can use them on Facebook, and we can pat each other on the back and encourage each other with them. Hell, we can even use them in the pinnacle of modern philosophy and turn them into bumper stickers.

So here are some thoughts “we” can use in thinking and talking about “them.”

Their side is made up of sheep, blind followers, members of the cult of personality; our side is made up of intelligent, thoughtful people.

Their side doesn’t understand the issues and demonstrates mind-numbing shortsightedness; our side understands the issues and demonstrates an admirable understanding of the big picture.

Their side is trying to ruin America; our side is the last defense to the America we love.

 Their news sources are astonishingly biased and one-sided in their coverage; our news sources are fair and comprehensive in their coverage.

Their side controls the media and gets away with everything; our side gets harassed and abused daily in the media.

Their side is exactly what the founding fathers were warning us about.

Their side has offensive, ignorant public figures like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Jon Stewart, or Steven Colbert; our side has visionary thinkers and brilliant speakers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Jon Stewart, or Steven Colbert.

If their candidate wins the election, America as we know it will end; if our candidate wins, America will be on the road to better days.

Their side is disrespectful and unthinking; our side is respectfully passionate.

You should be happy that our side is nothing like their side.

Feel free to embrace these thoughts and fold them in to your rhetoric like the rest of us. They fit nicely into whichever side of the political spectrum you’ve chosen, and if you can’t see that… well maybe you’re just a sheeple.

Human Experimentation

Science experimentation is critical to continuing our understanding and knowledge. Some experiments have virtually no ethical shadow to them at all, using chemicals or other non-living components. Some ride a fine ethical line, using animals or even humans in respectful, humane ways. But some experimentation runs headlong into the dark shadows of ethical violations.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve lived most of my life with very little interest in or knowledge of history. One area that has interested me is the Nazi war crimes. I’ve recently watched the phenomenal 6-part BBC documentary called, “Auschwitz: The Nazi’s and ‘The Final Solution.’” After that, I read a book written by an Auschwitz survivor, which then led to me reading quite a few articles about other human experimentation throughout recent history.

I have to say that I’m amazed at the things some humans can do to other humans in the name of “experimentation.” Here are three experiments that for some reason really struck me hard.

In an effort to better understand the ability of mosquitos in carrying Yellow Fever, scientists purposefully release infected mosquitos over two unwitting towns, then track the effects… which include high incidence of fevers, respiratory distress, stillbirths, encephalitis, and typhoid, as well as several deaths.

A doctor injects 22 senile patients with cancer cells without telling them so that he can watch their immunological responses.

A group of doctors wanted to understand and document the changes in blood pressure and blood flow in infants. They conducted a series of experiments on over 100 newborns ranging in age from one hour to three days old. The experiments included things like inserting a catheter through the umbilical arteries to the heart, and measuring the pressure in the aorta in response to holding the babies feet in ice water.

I’ve learned much more about history in the past year, and I now know more about human experimentation than I probably need or certainly want to know. I just thought I’d share.

Oh, and just so there’s no confusion, each of the three experiments I listed above were performed by American doctors, in America, in my lifetime. To add insult to injury the second example refers to Dr. Chester M. Southham. The good news is that he did lose his medical license as a result of infecting the 22 patients with cancer cells. The bad news is that his license was eventually restored, and he went on to eventually serve as the president of the American Cancer Society.

It’s a strange world we live in.

I Don’t Think We’re Supposed to Know All of This Stuff

I’ve written about this before, but I’m going to write about it again because it’s on my mind.

For much of human history we lived in small tribes of 100 – 150 people. In this tribe, everyone knew everyone else, and in many ways everyone depending upon everyone else. Now suppose a member of your tribe is out hunting and gets killed by a bear. Your natural response is grief and fear. You grieve the loss of someone you knew, and you fear the bear that killed them because it is now a threat to you.

We now live in a world with over 7 Billion people. The internet makes it possible for us to hear (and almost impossible for us not to hear of tragedies around the world as they are happening. Most of us watched the planes hit the towers on 9/11. Most of us hears about the Sandy Hook shootings before horrible event was over. But I don’t think we’re supposed to know about these things, because we’re not yet equipped to deal with them appropriately.

As sad as the Sandy Hook story was, and as much as intellectually I acknowledged the tragedy, there is no way to compare the grief I felt with the grief I would have felt if I had known those 27 people, if they’d been in my tribe. So the constant inundation of tragedy and horror from around the world desensitizes us, working against our normal grief response.

But far more important is the distortion in our fear responses. We measure our fear response as if we’re still in a tribe of 150. Parents all of the U.S. were afraid to send their children to school following Sandy Hook because of the “danger” and “threat” possible. It seems like a “school shooting event” happens every week. So we’re afraid. We shouldn’t be though. If you multiply the number of school children in American by the number of days they attend school, the risk is beyond minimal. I read one article that said something like, “your child would have to attend school every single day of their life for almost 70 years to even have a 10% chance of being at a school that has a shooting event.” I’m not sure if those numbers are accurate but the point remains.

Psychologists actually say that we rank fatal events by roughly squaring the death toll per event. In other words if we hear of a car crash that kills one person, we emotionally process it as one death. But if we hear of a single car crash that kills 10 people, we emotionally process it as if 10×10 or 100 people have died. This is why the ~3,000 deaths in the 9/11 attacks “felt” more like 1,000,000 deaths.

Our chance of dying from heart attack is 1 in 7, but we aren’t afraid to eat unhealthy diets and avoid exercise like the plague. Our chance of dying in an “air or space” accident is 1 in 7,229, but many of us are afraid to get on a plane. The odds of a child dying in a school shooting are estimated to be less than 1 in 1,000,000. I don’t think we’re supposed to know about every blip in the evil of humanity, every twisted crazy person and their actions, because I don’t think we know how to process it properly. We live in a world of 7 billion and still process threats as if we were a tribe of 150.

The Profits are Locked In and Secure

In spite of this challenging economy, some businesses are flourishing. This article from 2012 lists 10 of them. Some on the list aren’t overly surprising, things like liquor stores and pawn shops, but there is one on the list that might surprise you. If you’re looking for a business with explosive growth over the past several decades, no sign of slowing down, and built on a foundation of American values, look no further than Private Prisons. That’s right, for-profit businesses running prisons for the American government.

Did you know this was happening? Many Americans have no idea, and many that know of it aren’t troubled by it at all. I’m troubled by it.

U.S. prison population is stunning. Check out the chart below – feeling proud?

More than any other country, we lock our people up. This is largely fueled by our war on drugs.

The U.S. has a long history of using private, for-profit companies within prisons for specific needs such as food service or building maintenance, but as the need for prison space began to explode in the early 80s, a new opportunity was born – an entirely private, for-profit prison. There is nothing inherently or obviously wrong with this idea. Private business rising to meet the needs of society is as core as any concept in the American economic model. The problem is what this burgeoning business creates.

Very often in business, a product or service is created to fulfil an existing need, but almost in a drug-addiction model, the tables eventually turn and the product or service is actually creating more need. In other words, private prisons may have originally been created to meet the increasing need for prison space, but there is now evidence that more incarceration may be occurring to fill the available prison space.

See, private prisons are run on virtually the same business model as an all-inclusive resort. The owner must drive down costs, while meeting minimum service needs, and above all do this while maintaining occupancy. Profits are driven by maximizing occupancy while minimizing cost. This is why there are now increasing news stories about the horrors in the private prisons. Unfortunately, many Americans hear about these types of stories, and dismiss them. Who cares? These people are in prison, they’re scum, they deserve to get this type of treatment. I completely disagree with this argument, but that’s a discussion for another day.

What most Americans don’t know is that local and state governments have, in many cases, signed multi-year contracts with these private prison franchises, guaranteeing a minimum level of occupancy. Let that sink in. The government is promising to incarcerate a minimum number of people every year, and agreeing to pay some type of penalty fee if for some reason they are unable to meet their commitment.

I feel like I need a shower just from typing that out.

Of course any business like this creates associated business opportunities. The game box shown on the left is real. It’s a simulation game that allows you to experience the fun and satisfaction in managing the costs and occupancy in your own prison! It’s worth noting that this is the third version of this game because, presumably, versions 1 and 2 sold well.

I’m evidently a simple-minded, naïve person. I think we should be locking people up based upon our laws and their actions, not to meet our quota and avoid a low-occupancy penalty.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Music has always been incredibly important in my life. I began playing my first instrument when I was seven years old, and by the time I graduated high school I had tried my hand at 5 or 6 different instruments, I sang, and I’d probably already written over 50 songs.

Listening to music is as important to me as making music, perhaps even more important. I use music to fuel energy, to keep me company through dark moods, and to literally create a real-time soundtrack for the maelstrom of thoughts and emotions that makeup who I am.

Now I know at least half of you reading this are thinking, “Yeah, we get it, we like music too, we play certain songs when we’re happy, certain songs when we’re sad, got it.” And maybe you do. Maybe there are a lot of people just like me. But I tend to think that music is more important to me than it is to most people, and I base that on the fact that I’ve had a lot of friends and family who know me well in the real world say, “Yeah, I like music, but it’s not at the core of my life like it is for you.”

Regardless, I thought I’d lighten-up the Burning Apathy blog just a bit by occasionally throwing in some music. Let’s get started today. In this blog post I’m going to introduce you to two musicians that I’m betting most of you have never heard of.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately and playing some guitar, and I’ve been feeling pretty creative. So today’s theme is creativity.

Jane Lui

I’ve been a fan of Jane Lui for a couple of years now. If I’d never seen her videos I would still be a fan just because of her voice, but watching her videos makes me much more of a fan. I wish I was 1/10^th as creative musically as this young woman is. She starts with the unusual combination of the songs “Moves Like Jagger” from Maroon 5, and “Rainbow Connection” by the Muppets. Listen to this, and watch how she makes this music. She is amazing.

Jon Gomm

I just stumbled across this artist and this video last week, and as a guitar player it is literally jaw dropping creative. I have a ton of guitar heroes, and this guy is now one of them. In the first 2 minutes of this video Gomm does half a dozen things that are not “normal” for guitar playing. Ultimately what makes me a fan though is this – when I get over my technical amazement, when I am no longer fascinated at the mechanics of what he’s doing and how he’s doing it, I enjoy the song, I enjoy the melody, the singing, and the overall feel of it. Give it a chance – the first minute or so is less melodic and more mechanic, but give it a chance. Watch it for a couple of minutes. Let the song build up.

Enjoy the music. I’ll be back in a couple of days with more ramblings.