Some of you mugs...

Did we become self-aware only when we began to question our own existence? When we opened our eyes to the possibility of non-existence and our acknowledgment of the finality of death did we truly, become?

What about insects. Are they aware that they live. In those teensy little brains, do they know that they exist? That they serve a purpose? Or do they just robotically do what they are programmed to do? There truly is no free-will in the insect kingdom?

I can fathom the fact that it is possible to exist and not know it but to contemplate the idea that a creature could exist, do tasks and react almost intelligently to obstacles is amazing to me.

Flies

They see you coming with the swatter and they split. A dog or a paper in the wind zips by and they don't even move. They recognize you. Your color, your scent or perhaps your shape. The heat you give off warning them of your aggressive intentions, something. That "something" is stored and recorded somewhere in the tiny little thing that contains a brain that interprets these messages and helps it calculate a pre-emptive reaction. Something modern science can't yet do in objects so small.

Ants

Sometimes it seems as if these little guys don't even know we humans exist. We step on their trail smashing their kindred and they walk around us or over us. They just keep marching along. "I'm doin' ma job I'm doin' ma job I'm
doin' ma job." Different types of ants react differently. Some get aggressive, almost angry and a long distance away (measured in kilominanters of course) other ants start preparing for your presence or attack from the scent communication.

Spiders

These guys are confusing to me. The scariest of all the ones I've mentioned before. These guys can be both chicken-prey, and predator-fox all at once. I've been there working in the back yard and during moments of rest and relaxation I see a tiny spider by my foot. It seems to be leading a lone blitz attack towards me. Does it know I am here? Does it know I consist of moor than a shoe?
It doesn't seem to care. It comes at me and at times I have been bit by these very same aggressors. Yes I know I am in their territory but DO they know I am here? Do they know the entire mass of my consistence?

When I was young and living in my parents home I had a spider experience I will never forget. As I was sitting on the can (I couldn't yet reach the floor) I see a tiny little white dot drop before my face. Thinking it was lint or dust I just instinctively blow it away ignorant to the fact that it would act as a pendulum and come right back at me.

Sure enough it did and annoyed I ended up smearing tiny baby spider all over my face. All of the sudden I became aware of a tickly feeling on my face, the sides of my head, my arms and my back. I methodically and deliberately start swatting all of them so I don't freak out. After I cleaned up and stood up I looked up and on the ceiling of our restroom was a swarm of tiny little baby spiders running around and just above my head they were diving down on their little strings.

A nightmarish vision for a youth and to this day still believe they were intentionally coming after me. I don't know for what purpose. If they were hungry or just cold but they did seem to be aiming specifically for me.
Did they know I was a creature? Were they aware that I could move? Did I look like food?

Are they and all bugs aware that "we" exist?

Dropping Bombs on your Moms

If you haven't already heard, NASA is planning to explode a bomb shot by a missile on the moon.  The purpose? To have the explosion project particles into space so that we can detect them and find out whether or not there is water on our moon.

Why? So we can consume it. Shipping water to the moon is very costly and difficult. If we find water there, astronauts can travel there and filter whatever water they need.  Sounds plausible enough right?

Here is my beef.

1. We are struggling financially as a planet. Setting off insanely expensive bombs to find out whether or not we can save money in the future seems counter-intuitive to me.
2. We are eventually going to the moon anyway. How about the next time we take a trip, one of the expeditions goes on a search?
3. If it turns out there is a little tiny bit of water on the moon, why are we so anxious to eject it into space?
4. We don't truly understand gravity (http://tinyurl.com/mcq2u6). Who is to say things won't react strangely on the moon when we nuke it?

My concerns?

1. Do we truly know the consistency of the moon? What if the moon is a delicate fossil and we nuke it collapsing it into a shell of its former self or shattering it into our own little asteroid belt or ring. That sort of disaster would be catastrophic for our environment and female ovulation schedules. Dare I say it? Year long PMS???? XO

2. Space is vast and empty, what if the moon reacts like a balloon and the propulsion from the explosion ejects the matter from it and the dust is sucked out into space by momentum alone, escaping the light moon's gravity?

3. What if that same propulsion is enough force, on the moon, to push it just one inch farther away from the Earth. That can do insurmountable damage.

4. What if all goes well and instead we only consume all the water on the planet. Water is HEAVY. NASA understands this and is why they don't want to ship it. That weight adds to the moons mass. What happens if we change that delicate balance?

I believe this is just a stupid idea designed to keep scientists busy, employed and and the media interested.  I was able to get my hands on a top secret NASA diagram and I have uploaded it risking my freedom.  Enjoy.

Shoot the moon!

P.S.  That's not a banana eating a celery stick.

More info on the impact.
...and even more info.

Traffic

I propose what may be a very unpopular traffic solution.

But before I do I must first explain my justification for my placement of blame.

The source of the problem I will focus on is actually on the corporate level. Now this isn't a "hating the man" tree loving anti-establishment tirade. It is, what I believe to be a logical and realistic explanation of one of the major causes of terrible traffic in metropolitan areas as well as a proposed solution that will not completely abolish traffic, but perhaps improve the situation noticeably.

Major corporations feed our families, they build cities and breed other businesses. They are not the "enemy." But they have become a bit too confident for their own good. Instead of building these corporations to serve us, we have tried with all our might to dehumanize these creations and use them instead to protect us from any liability. We have created these autonomous beasts for an urban jungle that we only work to serve. Too abstract? Look at it this way. We trade them publicly and disperse control amongst a board in order to protect ourselves from any blame and perhaps lawsuit. It is a self standing unit that even has legal rights in some countries.

How does this affect traffic? Well, indirectly because of this dehumanization it has become easy to request more and more of its employees. The beast is never satiated.

"I give you more money, you work harder and longer."

Most every major corporation I have ever worked for expected the most out of you. It (or they) expected you to work yourself to the bone. Some elder folks often did exactly that. They gave it their all. Their hard work, their loyalty and the beast just fed. Once these older employee's are surpassed by the younger more "ripe" employee's they are cast out as empty shells. Replaced with no concern for their continued well being.

As time goes on these beasts make more and more demands. Humanity breeds to serve them and compete amongst each other to become the next victim.

Remember the days of suburban commute? Those images of nice clean houses when all the husbands drove off to work at the same time and arrived at exactly the same time? That's long gone but not due to the staggering schedule that would seem to make society more productive.

In its place was a demand. A shift from hourly pay to salary so the employee would work as many hours as "the beast" deemed necessary. No worthy compensation for the extra hours of life the human sacrifice.

Why do I claim that employers are to blame? The slight increase of salary pay is the excuse. Working excessive overtime requesting odd hours of employment, days off, travel etc. only take more and more out of an individual and require that he/she show up at rarely even hours making van pooling and the use of public transportation nearly impossible.

I'm not in a position of power really and yet I can never hope to van-pool with anyone. I'm lucky if I can even get away for lunch. If I take my lunch anywhere local it is always interrupted and multiple times. So I must leave the general area if I want a moment of peace. Lunch breaks aren't long enough for bus transportation to and from your eating break so you MUST have a car of your own or also carpool with others. That rarely works with the strange work and meeting schedules of your average company that schedules them all at the highest ranking employee's whim.

A improvement? Force a range of hours to apply to wage, salary AND more importantly place a cap on the hours employees work in a month, not just week and day.

So an employee would not be salary or wage exclusively but both, depending on how many hours he/she worked in the week and throughout the individual day according to their own individual contract. For example, less than 2=hourly, 2-8 salary, 8-12 hourly. That way they get the overtime they deserve but don't get away with ripping off the company too much either by clocking in and out one hour and still getting a full days pay.

Traffic accidents will also most likely reduce since drivers will be more well rested.

Basically, gradually reducing the amount of overtime that is expected from your employee's would help.

Increasing shifts.

This is what I believe would be the most effective way to reduce traffic. This is a world economy and even keeping up with East and West coast U.S. differences becomes a challenge. East coast days are half over before West coast even gets started. Some companies, most of the larger ones responsible for the traffic, should switch to a multiple shift work schedule. Employee redundancy is one of the benefits they can look forward to.

Essentially employee's would have their hours reduced (as well as their pay) but more people would be employed which in the long run, money saved in commuting costs included, could stand to improve the standard of living for everyone involved.

I'm talking about a 3 a.m. to 12 a.m. function. 2 or 3 shifts not including the cleaning crew and maintenance work between 12 a.m. and 3.

It would be an experiment I would like to see at least attempted. We ARE running out of options so in the big picture I don't think my ideas are THAT outlandish.