February 27, 2006
Where shopping is a pleasure
As much as I'd like to write about why I don't write in my blog, I figure I've written enough about that already.
My current Wikipedia is Publix, a fabulous supermarket concentrated in, but not limited to, the state of Florida. Still needed, a biography of Charlie Jenkins, Jr., the current CEO of the company.
Other than that, work has got me running around like nuts. Busier than I've been in quite a while. I wish that this meant that I was more competent than I've been in a while, but I'm not certain that's the case. It's depressing the hell out of me.
Posted by Bastique at 7:44 AM | Comments (1)
February 3, 2006
Chatrooms and Sexual predation (unrelated)
I had a few things I wanted to discuss tonight but I spent all evening in the Wikipedia channel on IRC.
Now channel 10 has this horrible story about Sexual Offenders living near Day Care Centers. The story did nothing more than point out how the reporter knows how to point and click and look for registered offenders who happen to live within 1,000 feet of a Day Care Center. I wonder what asshole thought of this report.
I believe sexual crimes against children are horrible. However, I also believe that our culture has put absolutely no research into curing these people, or even trying to find out from where this affliction stems. Guess what—the numbers seem to be growing. They found 500 sex offenders within 1,000 feet of Day Care Centers in South Florida.
I wrote the reporter an email. The contents of which follow. I encourage anyone else to do the same:
Hi Julie (jsummers@local10.com);
Your story served no useful purpose whatsoever.
As long as society continues to deal with convicted sexual preditors as animals, keeping them inside little zones, then we'll continue to have them. Who the hell knows where a day care center is?
I don't pretend to understand sexual predation...I wasn't molested as a child and I tend toward physical attraction of those more mature than myself. But I do understand similar problems, such as drug addiction, something else people believe you can't recover from, and something that leaves other kinds of scars on loved ones, including children. How come children who are physically or emotionally abused are allowed to suffer or returned to the abuser? Why not do an expose on that? You can't...because your 500 will turn into 50,000 people. And yet these children are suffering from damage far greater than many of the victims of those sexual predators. Teenagers don't scar quite as easily as children do. Or don't you remember being a teenager?
These people are human beings, Julie, whether you want to objectify them or not. I'm sure many if not most of them have had some sort of counseling. As human beings, they deserve pity and love.
I'm certain you believe you are doing something good, but you are probably hurting more people than you are helping.
Cary Bass
Fort Lauderdale
Posted by Bastique at 11:03 PM | Comments (1)
February 2, 2006
Groundhog Day
This is a groundhog!Groundhog Day, once known as Candlemas. I heard two explanations about how Groundhog Day got started on the radio this morning on Air America Radio. First by Rachel Maddow, then immediately thereafter from Jerry Springer on the drive into work—but not until Jerry went on a long, entirely inaccurate explanation.
Today is 48 days without cigarettes. I quit smoking on Robert Boyd's birthday. Robert was one of my oldest friends, who died about a year ago from a heart attack. I have no idea of the specifics, but I'm certain the fact that he smoked over two packs of cigarettes a day was no help. He was 45 years old.
Robert and I had a falling out and hadn't seen one another in quite some time. The truth is that I was sick and tired of only getting phone calls when he wanted something. But I still cared about him.
I would like to get this darn thing going again—frankly, my writing is like a muscle that's begun to atrophy, and I can think of no better exercise than to try to keep this going on a daily basis.
Peace.
Groundhog image derived from Wikipedia modified and released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Posted by Bastique at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)