Mosaic Life

Hear me out

Okay, you guys know that I’m totally not an activist in any sense of the word. Well, I never was anyway. But the older I get, the more I care about things in regards to politics, which can be bothersome because apathy is so much more convenient. But I strongly urge you guys to go to save the internet.com and click on “Tell Congress to Save the Internet” and to do so forthwith.

So here’s why. It’s all about keeping Net Neutrality. I’ll quote the site’s information because they’re better at saying it than me:

The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating. Innovation would be stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporate executives.

On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control — deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There’s no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

The free and open Internet brings with it the revolutionary possibility that any Internet site could have the reach of a TV or radio station. The loss of Net Neutrality would end this unparalleled opportunity for freedom of expression.

The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us.

Okay, I realize that that was long, but still. I’ll summarize it for you. Net neutrality = good. Big companies making it so that if you pay a lot, you keep getting fast service (that you’re used to) and you can go to the sites that you’ve always been able to go to, and if you pay less, your service will be slow and you will be limited as to what sites you can visit = bad. It would mean taking away the freedom that we presently have online. So go to go to save the internet.com. Do something.

Trivial vs. News

So I’m taking a Survey of Broadcast Media, and of course, I hear a lot about how Americans only want to hear about entertainment news. We’d rather hear about Britney Spears flashing her nether regions than the people dying in the war in Iraq. And when it comes to “real news,” anything that isn’t sensational gets pushed back to the end of the news segment.

Of course, all of that is true. The news gives us what we want. But why do we want that? Why don’t we want to hear about the important issues rather than the superficial? I’d argue that it’s part of self-preservation, at least psychologically. No one wants to think about things that are tragic and unfair in the world when there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s mentally taxing. Plus, if we want to see gore and hear about atrocities, we can always watch a violent movie and then brush it off because it isn’t real. With the news, not so much.

For instance. The other night in class we learned about this story that got pushed to the back of the nightly news so that most people were asleep when it came on. The story was about how some of the hospitals that America has built in Iraq aren’t finished; the sewage is all messed up, they can’t afford to power the hospitals, they only have one oxygen machine for the NICU so that babies have to share–that’s right–take turns getting oxygen. Oh! And this nice truck that America donated to them, which has an American flag and “from the American people” written on the side, and has new wheels and a new coat of paint (they were told it was new), is actually over 60 years old. They had to crank the thing up. So the claim that we’re over there spreading democracy and trying to help seems all the more like an unconvincing facade; we only want to look like we’re over there for a noble cause. But here’s the thing. There’s nothing I can do about that. I don’t have the money or the equipment to help finish the hospitals. And all it does is make me sad and annoyed. Yeah, I can “do my part” by voting, and I will, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

So yeah, I do prefer to hear about trivial things. I haven’t gotten to a point where I don’t watch or read the news (I have CNN, BBC, and Yahoo news on my RSS feed), but I’m getting close.

Birthday Wishes from the DMV

So here in the peachy state of Georgia, vehicle registration fees are due on your birthday. And since both of our cars have my name as the owner, it’s double the fun!

Isn’t that the most lame thing ever? You have a little money to spend on yourself for your birthday, and the DMV goes ahead and takes it away. It reminds me of that scene in Disney’s Robin Hood where the honorable sheriff of Nottingham takes away Skippy’s (the bunny’s) birthday farthing for taxes. Greedy DMV.

Recycle or else

So another warm winter has been predicted by our friendly weather predictors. I know many people disagree over whether global warming is caused by humans, sun activity, or God’s wrath, but let’s be practical here. If it is human-caused, I am going to get you people who don’t recycle and who drive Hummers. No seriously, you may enjoy your big giant gas guzzling luxuries, but me and my economy car are not amused. I hate hate hate warm weather. What’s the point of living in Atlanta if you don’t get a real winter? Well? I suffer through the torture that is the summer of Hot-lanta GA, and I expect to be repaid in full when winter comes.

If I don’t get to use my fireplace this winter, I’m totally going to join the tree huggers. And then won’t you feel guilty?

The Varsity

So I’m taking a Persuasive Writing class. Turns out, it’s quite similar to blogging. So I figured I’d post one of my first papers, a review of a fastfood restaurant.

Smashed Burgers and Clogged Arteries    

What’ll ya have? I stood transfixed, struggling to pick out a menu item as the lady behind the cash register’s patience seemed to be spent. So this was the Varsity (or The Varsity Jr. anyway). Already I had growing doubts about the restaurant, but I tried to silence them by telling myself to give the place a chance. A burger. I could order a burger. I piped up, “I’ll have a cheeseburger and…” She pressed a button and looked back up at me. “Um, some fries and a coke.” She rang it up and told me the total. Hmm, a bit pricey. I stepped aside and waited for my food. When the items were all piled on the red tray, I surveyed the victuals. It didn’t look good. It looked greasy. It didn’t look all that fresh. And I could tell my arteries were soon going to be crying out in agony. But I was determined. Continue reading The Varsity…

Of course it’s hot in hot-lanta

But seriously, this is just ridiculous. The high is in the upper nineties and the air is thick with humidity and utter discomfort. You can’t stay outside for more than five minutes without getting a sweat stache. And just try feeling remotely attractive with a sweat stache. My car heats up to about 300 degrees during the day, so when I get in I can’t even touch the steering wheel and God help me if I touch the metal on the seatbelt.

Whenever I talk to friends back in southern California during the winter, and they boast that it’s 75 degrees when it’s 40 degrees in Atlanta, I actually don’t envy them. I like cold weather because I like sweaters and hot chocolate and whatnot. But when they brag that it’s 75 degrees there when it’s a bajillion degrees here (or 100, but what’s the difference?), I struggle to remember exactly why we moved. Back in SoCal, we used our air conditioner about three times a year. You can’t survive here without air conditioning. You’d have a heat stroke, or in the least suffer from exhaustion since it’s impossible to sleep when it’s hot.

Our apartment heats up like crazy, and I’m not really sure what to do to conserve energy, because I refuse to allow the thermostat to go over 80. Our apartment is on the third floor, we have vaulted ceilings, and the sun shines pretty strongly on parts of our apartment. But we have trees blocking out some of the sun, and blinds and curtains, but it doesn’t seem to help. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to go without air conditioning or heating in the Fall months, which are usually pretty temperate, to make up for our soaring electric bill during the Summer.

Wow, this was a mundane post. Maybe next time I’ll talk about something interesting, like my cat. You guys like that, right?

In which I argue with songs

I’m going to cross the ideas behind my advice to bands from 20 years ago blog and my arguing with signs blog, thereby making an arguing with songs blog. Sort of like this one where I made it clear that “catch my disease” is not an attractive request.

The song of topic today is “If Everyone Cared” by Nickelback. I’ve heard this song on the radio a few times. For a while I wasn’t sure which grungy Creed-like band did this song - not that it really matters. It all blends together anyway in the mediocre pool of songs that “best hits” radio stations rotate without thought or passion. Anyway. Anyone who has been unlucky enough to be in the car with me when this song graced the radio waves has already heard this rant, because I just can’t hold this rant in if I listen to more than a minute of the song (in the incidence that I forget my iPod and all the other stations, including the mariachi stations, are playing commercials).

Let’s get to it then.