Ever Since. A historically accurate guide through history... Kind of

 Leading up to 2012, many historical events occurred on December 31st that helped shaped the world in to the planetary society we are today. Let's take a few moments and review a few & reflect on where it is that we, as carbon based lifeforms screwed it all up ;)

• Someone decided two thousand twelve years ago today, forget the previous 4 billion, lets start counting the years tomorrow.

• In 406: 80,000 Vandels attack the Rhine at Mainz & thus the first usage of "Get off my lawn you damn hooligans" was recorded

• 1492: 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily which didn't turn out to be a big deal because thanks to Columbus' discovery that same year, they relocated to Boca Raton.

• 1669: France & Brandenburg sign secret treaty and a concerto was born.

• 1711: Duke of Marlborough fired as English army commander. Keeping with his military training, he moved to America and started killing people with cancer.

• 1841: Alabama becomes the first state to license dental surgeons. Early the following year, the last dentist closes its door due to lack of business.

• 1879: Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting. The following day, whales around the world breathed a sign of relief

• 1907: For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal new year; Dick Clark hosted the event.

• 1961: Kennedy & Khrushchev exchange holiday greetings... and wives.

• 1993: Loveboat actress Jill Whelan weds. No joke here; just when was the last time you heard that name?

• 1999: Panama takes control of the canal from the United States. They immediately filled it in and said "We don't even like boats; we asked for a camel!"

• 2011: Some idiot takes true historical events and spins them in to a lame attempt at humor that makes Carrot Top's material look like Shakespeare in comparison

Have a safe and happy New Year everyone!

Years End. A Dream?

Another year, another dollar..... That I wasted on a malamar bar & a forty of Colt 45. Whatta ya gonna do?

Three things are certain to happen over the next 48 hours:

1) People will look back on 2011 and scour over the years good and bad events like Marla Gibbs cleaning George Jefferson's stove, sassy insults included

2) People will inevitably make a resolution to improve upon something in their life that goes the way of Cop Rock & probably as quickly

3) Some schmuck will inexplicably hit one out of the park and wakes up New Years day next to a woman so far out of his league that he feels so lucky, he buys stock in Smirnoff in gratitude for affording him that experience.

•  Sidebar: She wakes up, confused, nauseous and swearing off vodka for her resolution (see #2 above)

 So in the end what will we learn from the past year and what do we have to look forward to in 2012?

 Well, we learned that we are still miles away from the utopia that many sci-fi writers of the 50s & 60's assumed we would be in; yet we are also not in the post-apocalyptic world (so far) that the same genre writers of the 70's & 80's predicted we'd be. No pre-flip out Mel Gibson running around shooting random "mutants" yet no young, hot Jane Fonda flying around in her "love pad" UFO dropping trou with every passer by either.... *sigh*

 Bottom line, we are what we are. A flawed world which seems to be creating a bigger rift in humanity & prosperity than we are of closing it. The amazing part of humanity is; we still have dreams that the new year will bring change for the good.

 Dreams are good. They prove we can still imagine (hear that Hollywood? Maybe you should try it) Some come true; some even change the world yet some become nightmares (looking at you Hollywood!) But the fact that we still dream and by proxy hope, leaves a small glimmer that maybe, just maybe naughty girls need love t.... err um, maybe one of these years we will finally be able to look back and say: We finally did it! Not this year though.... It's an election year ;) Happy New Year Everyone

Truth & Karma

 I take a lot of heat for what is deemed as a mean spirited or negative stance when it's simply just me being honest & outgoing with my thoughts, opinions and advice. Most of the time what I speak, write or post is not negative nor intended as such; it simply is what it is and gets misconstrued as negative for reasons only those who think it is can explain. The vast majority of the time when I post something, it is intended to be taken as humor, but there are times I speak freely & honestly from my heart, like now.

 There are people in this world that are users and for the life of me I can not understand 1) how they can be so devious 2) how they always seem to skirt the consequences & come out as the victim 3) how they sucker good people in to believing and comforting them and 4) should I feel bad that/when karma bites them that I feel a sense of gratification?

 Without getting in to specific details, such a scenario as posted above has happened of late to someone I was once bitten by & I'm torn with this sense of joy that they finally got what's coming to them as well as a sense of feeling bad, not for them personally, but that someone, anyone is going through a rough patch, especially in the holiday season.

 Most people just (and only want to) see the exterior of the people they know, especially in a social media setting and far too often we are guilty of considering those people (true) friends with all the benefits that come with said title easily bestowed upon them, when in fact they are nothing more than acquaintances. I freely admit I've done that. Sure, they are there to console you, tell you what you want to hear or comfort you, that's part of the magic of social media.

 A while ago, I gave up a vast amount of "friends" because of an incident that occurred to me via an ill conceived notion of a long-distance social media connection that turned out to be (for me) nothing more than a plot to use. Whether I'm seeing that as fact or just seeing it as the scorned is irrelevant to the argument because the truth of the matter is, underhanded and preplanned acts where taken that were never publicly shared with online and attending "friends" that in turn caused me to look in a defiant, angry mindset and by association assumed I was a "bag guy" I could go in to detail on how the chain of events actually occurred but there is really no point. In the end, I am glad it all happened. There were those who (I believe) saw what went down as it actually happened & they are are still in my online life; while those who bought "the story" are not. The only thing that still pains me are those in my physical life that still associate with that person, albeit on rare occasions; and still to that, I fully respect their decisions to do so because I know people do not take things a personal as I do.

 Should I feel bad that circumstances have caused the above person grief? I don't know, but I do not. I don't wish any ill will toward anyone yet I'm a firm believer that in life, without lessons or should I say "having to eat crow" on occasion is the only way you can grow, mature or evolve as a person. I don't feel joy or pride they are getting their comeuppance for what they did to me personally; I don't feel a sense of schadenfreude for their misfortune but rather a glimmer of happiness that they may possibly learn that they can not treat people as they have & not expect karmic retribution which would hopefully in turn cause them to cease being the conniving person they had been.

 Sometimes it takes a while, but I will continue to believe that the people that use others will, themselves be used by another. It is at that precise moment they must either take their medicine and come out of it a better person, or they will continue to use and one by one lose every person they hold dear to them until finally it comes down to being just them, and a reflection in a mirror.

 Finally, a piece of advice to everyone: If you're in a relationship, things couldn't be going better, you're as happy as can be and out of nowhere you get asked "Do you lie?" followed by things immediately turning south: Take heed, because something is up.

What's been and what's to come....

Well, we enter the final year of our existence (according to the Mayan calender) and I must say.... This society is really going out with a bang. Greed, hunger, in-fighting, disease, war, religious insecurity, gout, ketchup in packet form at your local grocery store, infidelity, backstabbing, generational gaps, political strife & network TV continuously giving Rob Schneider opportunities. We certainly have become enlightened in our 4000 years or so as a sentient species, haven't we?

Sometimes I laugh at sci-fi shows when they say "humanity has evolved past... all of the aforementioned stuff" Maybe I'm just missing it, but frankly I don't see it. If anything, we're devolving. Hell, cavemen fought with other cavemen for the simple fact that one tribe killed a water buffalo & didn't want to share the meat spoils with the other that had domain over the drinking pond because they didn't want to share.... Wait! Am I talking about now?

Anyway, my point is, stop paying good money putting Rob Schneider on TV networks, his 15 minutes ended with copy machine guy... err um, I mean with the political season kicking in to high gear, we will start hearing all the bull shit from candidates (on both sides, so back off Carville) about how this is broke and that is flawed and if you vote for me, I'll fix it. Well, I'm sorry but from an aliens prospective looking down from space, this world probably looks irrevocably broken & they are just waiting to swoop down and scoop up the spoils; Then again they'd have to buy it off the Chinese, they own it all now anyway, don't they?

So is the Mayan calender end date prophetic? Or does it stop next year because their calender maker died & he was too stubborn to train a replacement, leaving no one to make new calenders because the Mayans where cutting jobs & he certainly didn't want to train some young buck so they could push him out the door of early retirement which brought with it a pay cut, loss of benefits & the inevitable meeting with Kisin, the Mayan god of death? Sound familiar?

Who knows, but this world of today is certainly technologically advanced but our mental maturity certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Spiritually, socially and humanely we have a long way to go in a mere 12 months, when the Mayan calender ends to prove ourselves to the guy who has the new calenders that allows time to continue. Then again maybe in December 21st, 2012 we all meet Mr Atoz, (yes, a Star Trek TOS reference) select a moment in history to hop in the atavachron and time travel back to that point to live out our days because this world is over. Or maybe, that is just the date for yet another unfunny Rob Schneider sit-com to debut? And truly then, the world ends. Who knows?

Regardless, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, A joyous Kfjhe7xg (didn't want to exclude anybody) everyone.... Here's hoping 2012 is the start of something special, for all of us & not an end to it all.

A Tin Moon? (Paragraph one)

I whispered in the dark to no one in particular, while shadows whisked through the summer breeze. A glance off to the distance shown a light dancing cautiously between the moon & ground. I sat up anxiously and billowed up the stairs & out in to the cool stillness of an August Michigan predawn. I stood frozen, emotions eclipsed by the fact that I was so drawn to the object in the sky.

What is that?

(Tune in tomorrow for paragraph two)

Lay, Lie, Ladybug

Lay down lie and watch the river run
Fortune favors the weak, washed in the sun
But radars of music in moon swept hands
Arise the great June bug in some other land

Tempests and falling angels sweep wicker on the floor
Aghast the night watchman, pooling his fear from the shore
And the summertime rain casting a shadowy wince
Til bourbon soaked stains bring tomorrow to a glimpse

When from the ash of sands come glassy eyed guile
Forms a ladybug, laughing, lauding that's been there a while
Launch pillows of sweat soaked honeydew, akin to a stare
And with hummingbird speed, it offers you a dare

From what tomorrow brings, the lowliest of dreams
The ladybug laughs, confusion you will see
A lie breaks all promises and cancels the game
For legend did tell that the ladybug was maimed

The moral of this story is such a curious tale
Of how you'll be bested with such wonders that sail
Yet truth trumps all beauty when the June bug decides to stay
Still a lie may just be an omission, yet it hurts any trust away

Star Date - Oblivion?

With the world on the verge of destroying itself once again, we stand at the wall, wondering if all the 2012 end date stuff is possibly relevant or more so, spot on? It wont matter in the end who was right or who was wrong; who started it and who won; but in truth, it is a matter of fact that we, as a human race as a whole, cannot get along with one another.

It is during these times I sit, look around and wonder: What is it that makes us so destructive? I don't know the answer but it proves to me why people from other worlds don't make themselves known to us. Why would they? We are heathens in designer clothing. We'd rather run ourselves in to debt to have the coolest toys than help a neighbor in need.

We are lost. We like to think we are so advanced and so enlightened when in fact we are just a world full of plastic soldiers on the game board called Earth. People call themselves "peaceful" but they are not, none of them. It may sound like I have no faith in mankind, that I am an extreme pessimist. I'll admit that my hope is waining. It is at these times that I look to words to give me hope that we can still make it. Not in a bible scripture or news print but in song... It is there, we just have to listen, understand and believe.

When I get like this, it is almost prophetic how a line of a song will jump out and strike me right in the forehead. The line below, from a band called 3 that had one album in 1988. I sat here wondering about mankind's demise *poof* this line pops in to my head:

On my way home
Marching all night, is the light still on?
All through the battle been waiting
On my way home, so much of life left behind
So much ahead unknown

I hadn't heard the song in probably ten years. It gives me hope though because: So much of life is left behind, yet there is: So much ahead yet unknown.

Will we ever learn?

Star Date - Language

Last weekend a question circulated about whether or not someone should get offended by the use of certain words. Like my friend Kate stated: "Language is a breathing entity."

Unfortunately for all its wisdom, language is not very bright. It can (and has) been perverted into a war machine. Certain words can (and do) change with emphasis. Inflection is everything, but that doesn't excuse the speaker from fault in a given situation. Let me give an example.

The words that always seem to be at the crux of this debate are racially cognisant words. Words like Nigger, Spic and Gook are no doubt offensive, but unfortunately due to "modern lingo" they are now used all too frequently but get cast aside as being taken out of context or meant in jest. These days people use them as easily as words like "it" & "and" with no second thought about how they may be construed by the listener. It shouldn't matter if you (or the listener) are White, Black, Asian or Hispanic; and it shouldn't matter if the word is used in a different pronunciation to erase the negative connotation, the word was invented to be harmful and more times than not, it's still delivered as such.

The same can be said of defining words. Retarded is one of the main words used in today's lexicon that is not meant to be taken as harmful. When put to the question, most users will say they "didn't mean any disrespect" by using it and most probably, they were not, but that doesn't mean it was not taken as such. Retarded, by definition is someone who has a mental or physical condition to which they have no control over. This word, when used out of context holds the same punch to some as using a racially charged word toward the offending race. And much like saying "Nigga" in place of "Nigger" then claiming to be erasing the negative by changing the pronunciation; using altered terms like "Fucktard" are just as offensive as calling someone a "Retard"

Bottom line, we use language as we see fit. And unfortunately, today's society has deemed it acceptable to use offensive words in everyday life and we are now expected to accept it as the norm. We are not perfect and sometimes a joke IS just a joke, but there is a finite line that we must all take into consideration before when we speak. Are some people too touchy and sensitive? Sure, but there are also people who are way too insensitive to others when they speak. You have the freedom to speak however you see fit, but that doesn't mean a little decorum isn't appreciated or even the right thing to do.

Those who use language must always treat it with respect. Humor, incite, negotiation and daily conversation are all tools that language instills that allow us to use it. It is up to us, as intelligent beings to craft language, to coddle it, to make it worthy of being heard. Without it, we are destine to fail. With it (used properly & judiciously) the sky's the limit.

CapDans Log Star Date-Tourney Time!

Here's a list of my tournament selections if anyone cares to play along

http://apps.facebook.com/cbssports/brackets/1613002057/1

or

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/entry?entryID=5532113

CapDans Log Star Date: A Clean Slate

Here's to new beginning's; a fresh start. I create this new blog as an outlet for my musings, thoughts, stories, poems and all that conjures itself in my odd little brain. To see what has brought me to this point, please scan my old blog here http://www.theothersideoflife.net/danielfloyd/ I hope you enjoy.

Until the time comes that the out of the ordinary makes itself knownst to my brain, I bid you all.... Felicitations