A lot of humor (and some action) to counter-balance the really disturbing bits of news

This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Another kind of crazy day, but there was plenty of humor to distract online (or so it seems).

That’s good because some of the news items that came across my various feeds were more than a little disheartening. Mostly politics and environmental stuff… and I didn’t bother to re-share many of them because I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to giving them a good intro.

But they’re out there… and, sadly, I’m sure they’ll come up again.

So, today you get mostly talking animals, heart-warming stories, and some movie trailers.

Because, really, the world sucks enough as it is… no need to dwell on it all the time. (Just take action when you can!)

Also, it’s supposed to be ridiculously warm this week (mid-90s during the day, mid-70s overnight, if we’re lucky). I don’t care much for that kind of heat… especially when it’s paired with equally ridiculous levels of humidity. Imma gonna melt.

My Generation, Celebrity Humor, Cute Overload, World Goth Day, Jobs, and Job Numbers

This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

As Gen X hits its collective mid-life crisis, we wade through a country that’s undergoing a political crisis. More extreme views appear to the left and right of a seemingly silent (and often bewildered) center.

That polarization causes wild swings–accentuated by whatever will bring the media the most eyeballs or ears–causes more of a feeling of instability (regardless of actual stability) than most are comfortable with. That feeling of instability further causes more polarization as each side becomes more and more reactionary in order to counter the escalating maneuverings of the other.

And my generation (Gen X, for those who haven’t been paying attention) is kind of at the middle of it all. In general, we’ve long been disillusioned when it comes to politics. We know they’re not pretty, that they’re often petty, and seem to almost always ignore sensibility. Even though we went out and “rocked the vote” way back when, we didn’t really get the long term results we hoped for.

Just like everything else in our lives.

But that hasn’t stopped us from just moving forward.

We’re used to being disappointed.  Or being disappointments. Either way, the effect is the same. We often keep to ourselves, bide our time while the water is rough (which is sometimes more hard work than is readily visible), and hope for that day when the skies clear up and we can actually accomplish the big things we’ve always wanted to do.

Thing is, the weather never seems to clear up.

And now… now we find that half of our own lives are gone.

We’ve worked harder than most seem to realize. Quietly, for the most part. But we’ve had a lot of that work destroyed before we could make use of it. So we have little to show for it.

And now… now just finding work is a long-term, full-time, unpaid job. Is it any wonder people are just giving up?

We were raised by the first TV generation and have been soaking in media hype and marketing messages for our entire lives. Celebrity leaves as bad a taste in our mouths as politics does… and half the time the two are closely intertwined, anyway.

Half of our lives are gone and, yeah, we’re likely kind of bitter about it.

But that doesn’t stop us from continuing to move onward.

That’s the only thing we’ve ever known: that the horizon is where we should be.

And it’s always just a wee bit farther out.

Sometimes it’s obscured by a haze (of politics, of entertainment, of hype)… but we’ve been trained to know the general direction, regardless.

We move, always. Slowly at times. And we’re getting old and want to rest.

If only we really knew how.

Political Drift, Questionable Communications Decisions, A Classic Clip, History Online, Seal Snuggles, and Some SciFi Short Goodness

This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The situation with Cliven Bundy (the man who’s been grazing his cattle illegally for years on federal land) continues to get more surreal. Now that he’s got a speaking stump, all sorts of things are coming out of his mouth that are being made a big deal of. In some cases, like his recent musings on whether blacks were better off as actual slaves than as a bunch of people on public assistance now, possibly more of a big deal than they should be.

The problematic thing is, there seem to be some questions at the root of this story that are very worthy of discussion. Like bringing into question how much “public” land the federal government owns and what can (or should) be allowed to go on with it. Or how we should all feel about federal officials, working well within existing law, can be dissuaded from carrying out their duties by a group of ornery and armed citizens. Or how the media is actually covering this story–what gets hyped where, what details get lost, what words quoted out of context.

All fascinating and important things that will likely be swept away under the torrent of “Crazy Racist Guy Pulls a Gun on the Government” spin. (Well… it’s not completely spin, which is part of the problem with Bundy being at the center of this.)

The other big news is the FCC’s decision to more or less throw the concept of Net Neutrality under the bus. With the potential merger of Comcast and Time-Warner cable providers on the horizon, there’s no more important time to ensure that the Internet stay as low a barrier to entry as possible. With what the FCC just did, though, carriers like Comcast can (and will–it’s already started with Netflix) give preferential treatment to some businesses, putting them in a beneficial spot for getting their content to customers. The new ruling does include provisions that theoretically prevent an actual “fast lane” where data transfer rates could be modified based on business agreements… but those safeguards only work if the FCC enforces them in a meaningful way… and I haven’t seen a lot to indicate the FCC will do anything in a meaningful way when it comes to this issue. This is the second time they’ve dropped the ball–the first being when the poorly worded, but generally accepted, net neutrality ruling failed to be defensible in court because of that poor wording.