Goodbye 2011

This year hasn't been the worst, nor has it been the best. Still, I will be happy to see it go. I have some hopes that 2012 will be a better year. Not a lot of hope but some.

During 2011 I didn't accomplish anything significant. I didn't go on any exciting vacations, I didn't get promoted at work, and I didn't make any significant progress with my life. Heck, I didn't even go on a date. But I did make some progress with my health. Not a lot but some. And I have streamlined my life a bit further, making things simpler so I can focus on more important things. So while I didn't accomplish anything significant I did make some progress.

In 2012 I hope to continue making progress. Maybe even go on an exciting vacation. Who knows.

More commentary on the news. Some of the motivation behind my rants.

I read an article about how emergency rooms are having to deal with the homeless and mentally ill because of budget cuts eliminating state programs. This is another example of how not doing things right ends up costing you more in the end.

Many of my rants are about how we are not doing things right, doing what is easy or convenient for the short term but ignoring the long term cost. Problems don't just go away because you want them to. People with mental illnesses don't just disappear because you cut funding for a program. They continue to exist and will get their needs met elsewhere, in this case by showing up in emergency rooms where the cost of treating them is much higher both in money terms and in terms of services not rendered to people who really need emergency treatment.

Suppose you had a mental illness. You can't get a job, the state has cut out all programs to help, and your relatives have all disappeared. You can't get the medication you need for treatment so you slip further and further from reality. You have no home and winter is here. You have no food except what you can dig out of trash cans or beg. Showing up in the emergency room for treatment of the various illnesses that appear gets you food, shelter, and medication. Sure it costs a ton but you don't have an address so they can't send you a bill. Can't get into the emergency room? Well breaking a few windows or mugging somebody will get you into jail. That also gets you food and shelter. Maybe even medication. That also costs a ton but the state pays for that. You lose your freedom but you won't starve.

My point here is that doing that there is no free lunch. You can't make a problem go away by ignoring it and trying almost always costs more in the long run than dealing with it properly in the first place. As a society we should deal with the problems we have and strive for the best solution so our society can progress.

I wish I could write

Like many people, I would like to write a book. I have a story, several of them in fact. But every time I sit down to write the story out I get nothing. Although sometimes I get incoherent garbage instead of nothing.

It is odd that something so clear in my head comes out blank or garbled in words. Life I guess. I have heard many times that writing a book is hard work but I had thought I would at least be able to get the story out. Oh well. If I keep trying then maybe some day.

Institutional hoarding

Recently I read about a new dinosaur find. The fossils were not found in the field, they were found in the basement of a museum. The museum had gathered them long ago, put them into boxes, and then hid them away.

Another recent news article spoke of a library which had a huge storage room. A janitor got curious as to what was in a wooden box in the storage room and found a cache of silver coins which the library didn't even know they had. They aren't even sure where or when the coins came from. They were very, very old and collectible yet the library had them stuck in a wooden box in a storage room.

Museums, libraries, colleges, and other types of institutions often hoard items. Tucking them away not so much so that they can be preserved for the future but so nobody else can get them. Rare books that people should have access to are lost in the back rooms of libraries. Fossils that could further our understanding of the past are stuck in boxes in the basement, unstudied and unavailable to be studied. This is a shame because these institutions exist to spread knowledge, not hide it. And yet researchers who try to access these hidden treasures are denied access because they are "them" instead of library/museum/whatever staff.

It is a shame.

Drug users

I just read a news article about a woman walking around inside of a Walmart for six hours taking small amounts of chemicals from various bottles so she could make meth while in the store. She had only been out of jail for three days and didn't have enough money to buy the supplies so she was stealing what she needed and using them to make her drugs.

I understand addiction. One of my brothers (gone now) was an alcoholic. Most of my brothers and sisters were smokers. All of us have eating compulsions. But we never made went down the path of a drug being so important that nothing else in life mattered.

I am more than a bit tired of drug users and the problems they cause so here is my solution. First give them counseling. But if they still want drugs after that then give them the drugs. Free. But in a controlled situation. Build a large city/prison out in the desert somewhere to house 10,000 people. People who want to have free drugs have to live in the city while they are getting the drugs and they have to voluntarily get sterilized so they can't have children. If they are willing to do that then give them their drugs and a small amount of food per day and let them be stoned until they die and make room for the next person.

My point is that there is no curing these people and there is no hope of keeping drugs out of their hands, so if they are so determined to live a short but drug filled life then let them. But make them do it in a way that keeps from harming the rest of the population. After 20 years or so we should have our addict population narrowed down quite a bit, and since they aren't having children we should eliminate those whose genes lead them to such extremes.

An interesting problem

I recently found the website of Derek Sivers. He has some interesting things to say both in writing and on video. Nothing earth shattering but interesting anyway. Watching the videos I noticed that he is one of those perpetually happy and upbeat types of people. On his page describing books he likes he indicates this comes from his personal philosophy being related to the stoics and recommends a book on stoicism. For the first time in my life I am afraid to read a book. Not because it might be bad but because it might show that I have been living my life wrong. It is an interesting problem. If I read the book and decide I have wasted my life so far I can attempt to make my life better, but what if I can't? Then my whole life will be a waste. If I don't read the book I will just be hiding my head in the sand, hoping to ignore reality and not improve myself.

I have to decide one way or the other, not deciding is of course by default deciding not to read the book. Should I continue in ignorance or should I learn and maybe be disappointed? I will have to think a bit.

Looks and the beach

Several times I have been in discussions about nude beaches and sooner or later somebody will make a comment that the sort of people who go to nude beaches shouldn't because they aren't good looking. I have always found this an odd comment because from what I hear people who regularly go to nude beaches go to enjoy the beach NOT to be looked at. If you want to see good looking nude people they have bars and such for that. The point of nude beaches is the beach.

The same goes of course for regular beaches. People comment that this person shouldn't be wearing a bikini because they don't look good in it. Well, maybe there intent was to get a tan, not look good.

If your intent in going to the beach is to look as good as possible then maybe you want to cover up some, the average person has physical flaws and covering them makes you look better. However, if your intent is to get a tan then maybe you need to uncover some. If your intent is somewhere in between then you will have to dress or undress appropriately.

If your intent in going to the beach is to see good looking people without clothing then you have failed from the start. Most people aren't good looking. If fact, most people don't go to the beach so you can look at them. They go for the sun, sand, and water.

Having been in several of these discussions I always find it odd how so many people seem to think others should act a certain way simply because it is what they (not the other people) want. I have met many who say only good looking people (and themselves) should go to the beach, because they want to only see good looking people and seem to feel the rest of humanity is here for their entertainment. I have met a couple of people that say only fit people should go to the gym, everybody who isn't fit should exercise at home until they become fit enough to look good and show off their bodies at the gym.

People are crazy. I go to the beach for the beach, not to provide entertainment for others. If you don't like the way I look tough, I am not there for you I am there for me.