I can feel my face on the sleeve of your itchy, scratchy suit jacket. I can smell the Old Spice as you tell me you love me after lovingly correcting me.

The moments come and go, they shake my day into place or out.

The thought of you as I discuss car troubles with my girlfriend, or when I feel the sun on my neck while doing a crossword; the sound of your voice giving advice on how to make smoked sausages; or the feeling of having a loving family as I eat our typical Sunday lunch; they all shake my day into place and makes me feel whole.

But when I think of you and all the questions I need answered or when I feel alone with my thought, my day gets misplaced and I lose my way.

Today is your birthday and I need you to tell me that I am alright. I need you to hold mom tight. I need you to guide me and my brothers.

I can google any question and get an answer but I can’t google you.

I love you, and miss you.

Happy birthday dad.

This is a test post, it should not do anything. It just exists.

While I support symbolic gestures as much as the next guy, I don’t understand Movember. Movember is prejudicial, exclusionary, and insulting.

1. Movember suggests that people who already have moustaches as part of their style are basically out-of-style.
   1. The idea is that the moustache is something “kitchy” or undesirable, and something the person would want to get rid of after the month is over.
   2. Why not make Movember the month where everyone shaves their head? Go completely bald? Why not? Because nobody wants to make themselves look that silly or outrageous. The would be too much. Yeah, I guess something simpler, less commitment driven and more tacky is better.
2. Movember excludes people who already have moustaches.
   1. A person who normally has a moustache doesn’t just wear a moustache, the moustache is part of them. It is them. They would have to shave it off in order to participate. Then, when the month is over, they could keep it or shave it off like nothing happened. Basically removing them from the equation and leaving them with little or no voice.
   2. If you saw someone who always has a moustache during the month of Movember, would you think about prostate cancer or would you just be thinking “That’s Uncle Jake?”
3. Movember paints a negative picture of people who grow moustaches
   1. Quick, what do you think of when you think of someone’s prostate? Is it their face? Or is it what they have on their face? Is it what you want people to think when they look at the space between your upper lip and nose?
   2. Now think of someone with a moustache? Is it someone who is out of touch with style? Someone who still lives in the 70′s? Is it someone who may molest children? These are the thoughts and jokes people have and make about people with moustaches. Also, these are the thoughts and jokes made about people participating in Movember.

The idea of Movember is still a good idea, kinda, it just seems to be misplaced. Why not make and sell t-shirts that read, in big bold letters, something that truly speaks to the issue?

1. Can I check your prostate?
2. I am pro-prostate.
3. Now that is prostate you can be proud of.
4. I had someone’s fingers up my ass and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.
5. Check out this ass. My doctor did.

Why not have Movember be the month where everyone gets one earring? Or rips the sleeves off of all the shirts they wear that month? People could paint their nails black? Or everyone wears kilts? Why not make clogs the symbol of prostate-awareness? Or ass-less chaps?

I’m sure these and other ideas were all pitched at the campaign meeting but, for some reason, they decided that the moustache was the answer.

Not sure why.

No matter how good your product is, you will still need to make sure to take time to develop it, nurture it, and mould it into something more mature, effective, and well-crafted.

Occupy Wall Street is a product and every product needs to continue to be developed and crafted into a more mature product that more people would want to consume. OWS is not doing it wrong, they just need to do it more right.

1. Stop making it about yourself

The movement is self-centred and egotistical. I don’t care about you. You can afford to leave your home and job (if you have either). The majority of the 99% cannot do that.

Your papers telling us about your plight tug at our heart strings for a while, but the tune gets old. The stories need to be about something bigger than yourself.

Your presence at the encampments should be representative. You should be there for those who cannot. You should be there showing your support for those who can’t. The 99% need you to act for them.

2. Grow up and start planning for the future

The movement needs to move beyond the protest. The protest itself is the wakeup call. People have begun waking up. The coffee is brewed and we have eaten the porridge. What do we do now?

At the moment, all I see is a new plan to protest at another site, or to start another drum circle. Sure, some things have been decided and there are some details for what they want in the future. But there needs to be more.

The movement needs to look to the Tea Party and notice something. The Tea Party convinced politicians to join them. Politicians, like them or not, are part of our society and they make things happen, for better or for worse.

3. Start doing things for yourself

The movement isn’t actually doing anything. They are speaking, protesting, and bringing awareness. However, their repeated message has only been backed up by more protesting and speaking.

The movement isn’t fond of the political and economic systems because they are broken and likely are broken beyond repair. However, replacing it completely with something new isn’t possible either. Baby steps. Baby steps.

4. Shut down the camps

Seriously, shut them down. At the moment they are spawning too many outrageous acts against people and sparking more controversy that does not favour the popularity of the movement.

If it is not helping deliver the message then it is hurting the message. A death in Vancouver, while not the fault of the movement, paints a negative image. The horrors of rape and the vulgarity of hurting innocent people plague the movement.

The order was this:

Adam then Noah then Abraham then Jesus.

They are the men that God made a deal with

The deal with Noah was for all his descendants and there were 7 rules. This, understandably, was for everyone. Understandably because there were, at least in theory, only Noah and his descendants alive.

The deal with Abraham was for all his descendants and there were far too many rules. This was only for his descendants, the Hebrews. It might be worth noting that the rules may have be more applicable for the Israelites than the Jews.

The deal with Jesus was something totally different. It was a fulfillment of a deal made with either Noah or Abraham. Most likely it was with Abraham since Jesus’ birth was a fulfillment of a prophesy. This would mean it was the conclusion of a deal with the Jews.

The Gentiles are to follow the Noahic code. That still exists. Then what does Jesus actually mean to the Gentiles?

The end of the Abrahamic deal would spell anything but disaster for the Jews. Simplification, if anything. But why are there more Gentile Christians and so few Jewish Christians? And where are the Noahic Christians?

The rules for the deal with Abraham are too many. Here are the rules for the rest of us.

1. Prohibition of Idolatry
• You shall not have any idols before God.
2. Prohibition of Murder
• You shall not murder.
3. Prohibition of Theft
• You shall not steal.
4. Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity
• You shall not commit adultery.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy
• You shall not blaspheme God’s name.
6. Prohibition of Cruelty to Animals
• Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive.
7. Requirement to have just Laws
• You shall set up an effective judiciary to enforce the preceding six laws fairly

Click here to view the embedded video.

The story of trade agreements is the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack is the corporation and the giant is the masses. At first glance it is a great story where poor Jack seems to get the short end of the stick. This is the point the story-teller wants you to remember. The corporations are poor, lowly people who are only try to eek out a life day-to-day.

But the story does not end there. Jack climbs the beanstalk and, without permission, without even asking, he sneaks into the giants home and starts rummaging and pillaging through the giant’s belongings, claiming for himself what he will.

When the angry giant (the people) awake and become wise to what is happening, Jack is forced to scurry back home with all that he can carry. Then he chops down the beanstalk and destroys everything the giant had.

Jack wins and the giant loses.

Kim Jung Il is a cornered animal and a cornered animal is a frightening beast. Baring his teeth, desperate to see, smell and taste the freedom that once was his to enjoy. Unlike the animals in a zoo which are fed and treated in more or less a reasonable manner where freedom is something never tasted or hinted at, the cornered animal is a loaded gun with the hammer cocked. The beast is the gun looking for the time and target on which to unleash the unholy blasphemy of tactile divine intervention.

A bullet, a bomb, a virus, a gas or just a thought, weapons are the denial of all other gods. They are the announcement that I am God. While I control my destiny, I also control yours.

As God I can build walls which prevent you from seeing, tasting, smelling and feeling the freedom that I enjoy as your deity. The walls are those of my zoo. I can see the animals. I can feed the animals. And the animals bring me a sense of joy and increase my sense of power and wonder. But when those animals fight back and attempt to scale or tear down the walls I must fight back. Because this land is mine and was promised to me. I am the messiah and this is my land. This is Israel.

originally posted on July 30, 2009

The leaders of the free world have prevailed. The mortal enemy of freedom has proven his mortality. Celebration and exhalations echo in the chambers of the once enslaved and ring throughout the halls of the rich.

Our goal, our ultimate goal, to destroy and slay the dragon which haunted the lives of the poor, has been achieved.

(That is, unless, this actually wasn’t our goal.)

By eradicating the world of evil-doers we have lifted the black veil which shielded the eyes of the innocent and prevented prying eyes from seeing the perversion of their masters.

The dark, storm clouds which had brought floods of agony and despair have finally been lifted. The daylight of a new beginning shines in the sky above a triumphant people.

And who is rejoicing and claiming the victory? The people who arose and started the movement for change; The people who fought And rightfully own the victory; The people whose freedom has been restored; And the people whose lives lay in the balance?

This victory may well belong to those people but it is the outsiders and onlookers who deserve the glory. We must exalt the leaders of the free world, the presidents and prime ministers of seemingly uninvolved countries who count this as a victory for themselves. Because without them turning a blind eye for decades and ignoring the pleas and cries of the desperate, we could never feel as great an exuberance as this.

It is pain that makes joy more pleasurable.

The era of Gadaffi has ended but the era of taking credit for his demise has just begun.

Evil has been vanquished. Everyone rejoice and take pride in yourself. You didn’t care before, but it is not too late to pretend you do.

They are having TWO cakes! This is astonishing. Thanks BBC for letting me know this. Also, thanks for telling me that the second cake has a secret recipe that no one can speak of. So now I know there will two cakes that I can’t taste, one of which I couldn’t replicate. So, until the recipe is leaked or reverse engineered, I will be unable to sleep, thinking “What is in that cake? How can I make that cake? Why won’t they tell me what is in that cake? Will there be pictures of the cake? And at what point does this cake actually matter to anyone at all?”