fluxlife

Start Where You Are

2009-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

a good friend shared this video with me, and i love this guy, Chris Gardner! he's funny, chill, and committed to his dream. he's got a best seller, "The Pursuit of Happyness" (book and movie), and his current book:

Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

what a guy! formerly homeless, now rich, and not just in money. check it out:

randomly, this book looks good too:
The Contented Achiever : How to Get What You Want and Love What You Get

fluxlife technorati tag(s): The Contented Achiever - Chris Gardner - fluxlife

prop 8 upheld

2009-05-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

click image for more info
i was near the 18th & Castro street corner earlier today. NBC11 filmed a man who had an interesting viewpoint on the court decision that came down today. KRON4 arrived after NBC11, then took off. the action is at the san francisco civic center/city hall, so i think that's where all the cameras and copters are. i've gotta run right now. more later...

i posted a comment on my fellow blogger Angie's face book profile. check out her latest posts at: nomoreemptyfortunecookies.com!

here's a copy of my comment to Angie:
"the legal team that crafted prop 8 knew what they were doing. they knew how to word and submit prop 8 to make it stand up in ca state court. now, it's time for us to act instead of react. i'll be writing an opinion about prop 8 as it stands vs. the U.S. Constitution at http://fluxlife.blogspot.com/. there's 2 clear loopholes in prop 8 when you put it up against the Supreme Law of the Land (U.S. Constituion). i'm also kinda curious as to how the writers of prop 8 were able to subvert the typical process of ca state amendment ratification. that is, an amendment must be put before ca state congress in order to ratify an amendment that affects the core functioning of the ca state constitution (and by extension affects the core function of the U.S. constitution). the writers and agents/actors for prop 8 ratification definitely caught me sleeping on the job. time to wake up and act creatively to address this challenge! join us to act skillfully to restore equality for all! :D"
--end facebook comment--

okay, so here's the opinion i hold on the 2 legal loopholes that prop 8 will have to withstand in order to not be struck down in The Supreme Court of The United States:
1. Separation of Church and State - Since marriage itself is a sacred bond between individuals, it is carried out in/under the auspices and authority of a church or similar spiritual belief system. For the state to intervene in a sacred rite such as marriage, is a violation of the separation of church and state.
2. All (people) are created equal - This legal proposition should never have arisen in this case to begin with, because separation of church and state should have been stipulated and upheld before any marriages in the United States had ever taken place (all the way back to the day the U.S. Constitution was ratified). That said, I must proceed to consider the current legally illogical outcomes which are now in play:

While I am glad that 18,000 couples' marriages were maintained, how are they more equal than others who are currently seeking the same? i don't buy the grandfathering/protected argument put up by the court. these protections do not erase the legal absurdity of some groups within the population being more equal than others. when a legal absurdity such as this comes up in a court of American law, the judge(s) typically dismiss the case prima facie (on it's face), because absurdities do not work in the case law system (system of legal precedent). So, the fact that some people cannot legally be more equal than others demonstrates that the current ruling fails the legal absurdity test. This means that this part of the ruling causes the reasoning behind the primary case ruling to be legally suspect. This means that it's time for a crack legal team led by an experienced civil rights/corporate law litigation expert to begin to chew this ruling to shreds on appeal.

Hint to crack legal team seeking appeal: If you stipulate to property rights under the 14th Amendment of The U.S. Constitution (and other statutes, and etc.), this points to what the actual back bone of why the U.S. Constitution came into being: to protect our property vis-a-vis our wealth from the king, and by extension any one else. The U.S. Constitution is not a civil rights protection so much as it is a property protection. That's why you need someone not only versed in civil rights law, but also corporate law to win this appeal. On a side note, this is why corporate law has been able to subvert rights of individuals, because corporate law largely functions on the true back bone of the U.S. Constitution: property. The Bill of Rights (1st 10 Amendments), were actually written to sooth the classes just below the elite classes to accept the document as something that had humanitarian qualities to it. Well, they fooled a lot of us, and the corporations have largely been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. That being said, it is stipulating to property rights that wins civil rights cases in The U.S. Supreme Court.

"Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. Ratified 7/9/1868.
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The 4th Amendment also points to the back bone of The U.S. Constitution:

"Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Although this Amendment is primarily to ensure that warrants are correctly formed, submitted, properly approved and signed by a judge, and finally properly served to the suspect/probable defendant; it primarily came into being because our forefathers were concerned about retaining property, i.e. wealth against the king or other potential adversary. It again points to the true back bone of The U.S. Constitution: retention of wealth through property rights.

So, there's my long winded hint to the crack legal team for a win in The U.S. Supreme Court in this case. Mix it up with the 4th and 14th Amendments, other pertinent case law, statutes, points, and authorities all pointing to a violation of property rights, like a gay married couple wasn't issued credit and/or a loan for a house and/or a car, for example, and you've got a win. To try to attack the current ruling based on the merits would be absurd because the ruling itself is actually a legal absurdity. The only reason it currently stands is because any judge can rule however they want in their court (and they usually make up some quasi-legal story as to why they ruled the way they did, which could be total B.S.), and they have the final say until a higher judge says different.

Another aside: Unfortunately, the aforegoing is why homeless people's rights are in a back log right now. No property, no rights. And at around 10% of the population being gay, a similar conundrum results for the gay population, by extension. 90% of property/wealth holders are holding sway over legal rights in this society. While not all of the 90% has to assert it's power, a simple majority will do. One of the failings of our "democratic" process. The richest 10% holding 85% of the wealth in this world definitely aren't mobilizing to secure equal rights for all, that seems apparent. As Mayer Anselm Rothschild (of the very powerful Rothschilds banking family) said: "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes it's laws."

One of the realities I've looked at is that we're still based out of a caste or class system when it comes to rights in this country. It's not just a part of law and economy, it's in the current predominant psyche of the western world. I'll admit it for myself. For example, at the psychological level, when a homeless person approaches me for money, a wall goes up inside of me. I'm thinking: "I'm different from you, I have a job and/or a business. You don't." Even without extending this example further, and even if I give to that homeless person in money and/or my time and attention, I've already differentiated us both instead of seeing us as one and the same. Some days are different, and I don't put up that wall. I do truly see that we are all God, that we are all equal. Honestly though, I want to see the: "we are all God" reaction happen inside of myself every time, not just some of the time. The point is, the current state of The Supreme Law of The Land (U.S. Constitution), isn't helping. It actually still locks us into a class system whereby some people are more equal than others.

We can win and overturn prop 8, but there are some glaring faults for human rights built into the current legal system stemming from failings within the back bone of The U.S. Constitution. Elitists had a lot to say in it's creation.

Finally, in the big legal picture, it's high time we, the American people move towards creating the 28th Amendment to begin to transform The U.S. Constitution to give it the truly humane back bone of true equal rights for all, regardless of how much or how little property we own. Further, that a new Constitution be written to address the new challenges that have arisen in the past 230+ years to help the American people shift the current paradigm into something more workable and positive for these modern times.

In tandem with transforming our law in this way, we'll have to move away from our current debtor banking system to a value banking system. Currently, we generate the greater portion of our money within the closed banking system by signings for debt (loans and credit). The banks merely write down the amount of the loan into the borrower's account without putting actual money into the account (this happens via a bank charter in connection with The Federal Reserve). Then, the U.S. banks actually get to write down on their books about 10 times the amount of every loan/credit card taken by a citizen (again, by charter with The Federal Reserve, a private central bank that is loosely associated with The Federal Government). So, banks get credit as they sign up more people for debt. We need to set things up so that when a borrowing activity of a citizen or group of citizens is doing something that provides value to society like building a school, hospital, bridge, non-profit, etc. that the bank then gets to write down the "bonus" on their books. As a result, the citizen adding value to society is not charged interest on the capital, because what they are creating is adding value to society. No taxes should be collected off of the citizen's (s') value adding activity either. However, if someone takes out a loan to buy an SUV for example, the bank doesn't get the "bonus", and the citizen buying the SUV has to pay interest on the loan because their SUV is contributing to unreasonable environmental and roads damage. Also, carbon credits will have to be bought to offset the air pollution of the SUV, so part of their interest payments go towards that. No surprise, if you follow my reasoning, the SUV owner gets taxed as well. The basic idea is: "Tax and charge interest on things that are damaging to our society and our Earth, don't charge interest and don't tax that which improves our society and helps to regenerate The Earth."

This video taught me a lot about the predominant way money is added or created within our economy (the first 15 sec. of the video after you click on the play button is black screen with no sound. sometimes there is a delay for it to load before that. i had to move the progress bar pointer after i clicked the play button to get the video to start. this video is worth these small hassles, so check it out ):

My apologies for going on a tangent by talking about economics, but it is property/wealth related, and that has to do with the back bone functioning of our U.S. Constitution.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): prop 8 - money as debt - fluxlife

Manifest Your Intentions Faster

2009-05-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

my distilled version from Yogi times magazine jan/feb 2008, pg's 19-23, article: "manifest your intentions" by doug miller "create new habits and your habits create a new you" (4 steps/strategies):

1. start microscopically small - "You want to start with a resolution so microscopically small that you will guarantee yourself success."

2. create a good constraint - 'People hate making decisions so much so, that they will take action on automatic thoughts, and only later use their deliberate rational thinking.' With good constraints grounded in time of day, the day of the week, and duration or quality we can reduce our decision making in the forming of a new habit (e.g. We can decide ahead of time to only eat desserts on the weekend. This reduces decision questions to: "What day is it?", when you want to eat dessert).

3. focus on the behavior, not the result - This is a similar maxim I use in my Zen practice: "Focus on the action, not the result." It works great in my tennis warm-ups for example. I'm focussing on perfecting my technique, making it better every time I'm aware there's an opportunity to do so. So, I do this exercise instead of worrying whether the ball goes in, out, or into the net. By focussing on my action based on proper tennis fundamentals, the ball tends to go in at least 97% of the time because this is what happens when you focus on building and continually improving your technique vs. focussing on the result of such activity.

4. rely on your environment - Will power is conditional and not constant. It is on when you turn it on, and off the rest of the time. "If you want to achieve and sustain results, the answer is in your environment." ... "The idea is to create an environment that inspires and holds you accountable for the intentions you set. ...by crafting one where you no longer have to spend any time actually thinking about your intention, you'll be better poised to make a good decision for yourself, making you more likely to succeed." 2 important areas to craft your environment for success: area 1. relationships - surround yourself with people who already have the "thing" or intention you're committing to. The best athletes hang out with the best athletes to be at the top of their game mentally, physically, and spiritually on and off the court.
area 2. your physical environment - e.g. - If you want to eat less, use smaller plates. Again this reduces your decision making. Eventually, as you adapt to the new plate size and are no longer thinking about it, you're dieting without dieting, so to speak.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): how to manifest - fluxlife

Trinity: "No one has ever done anything like this."

2009-05-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Neo: "That's why it's going to work."

Just a thought I had regarding the development and implementation of my new community business, sfenthusiast.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): The Matrix - fluxlife - sfenthusiast.com

I Know Kung Fu (Web Design) - Update: "The Red Pill"

2009-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

SCRIPT:

Construct

Morpheus: This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken. Understand? Then hit me if you can.... Good. Adaptation, improvisation. But your weakness is not your technique.

Nebuchadnezzar

Mouse: Morpheus is fighting Neo.

Construct

Morpheus: How did I beat you?
Neo: You're too fast.
Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? You think that's air you're breathing now?... Again.

Nebuchadnezzar

Mouse: Jesus Christ, he's fast. Take a look at his neural-kinetics, they're way above normal.

Construct

Morpheus: What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are.... Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.

Nebuchadnezzar

Mouse: I don't believe it.

Construct

Neo: I know what you're trying to do.
Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo, but I can only show you the door, you're the one that has to walk through it.

-VIDEO ENDS-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

here's and excerpt from my first group email to my core team at sfenthusiast that relates to this video:

V. Gary Weisler (sfe CONSULTANT)
1. ADJUNCT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR FOR LIANA AND STEVE, AS WELL AS ADJUNCT BASIC WEB DESIGN CONSULTANT FOR sfe. HE FINISHED PROGRAMMING CODE DIRECTLY INTO MY BRAIN LATE LAST NIGHT SUCH THAT I AM NOW FULLY CAPABLE OF UTILIZING HTML/CSS AND FTP UPLOAD PROTOCOLS TO HELP IN GETTING OUR SITE UP! IT'S KINDA LIKE THE WAY NEO LEARNED KUNG-FU BY GETTING HIS BRAIN PROGRAMMED IN THE MATRIX. PRETTY FECKING AMAZING! AT THE END OF THE LATE NIGHT SESSION, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF: "I KNOW WEB DESIGN." AND LIANA AND GARY CAN PLAY MORPHEUS IN OUR sfe SCENARIO AND SAY TO ME: "SHOW ME." AND THEN, THE BATTLE BEGINS. WE WILL HAVE OUR WEBSITE. YES!

LINK TO: "I KNOW KUNG-FU" HERE . JUST REPLACE: "I KNOW KUNG FU." WITH ME SAYING: "I KNOW WEB DESIGN." REPLACE NEO, (KEANU REEVES) WITH ME, AND REPLACE MORPHEUS, (LAURENCE FISHBURNE) WITH THE COMBINED PERSONA OF LIANA AND GARY (LITTLE BIT OF CORY AND KRISTIN TOO). YOU'LL GET A PRETTY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT HAPPENED TO ME LAST NIGHT AS YOU WATCH THE VIDEO. LOL!

ALMOST DONE WITH THIS GROUP EMAIL... WHEW!

the email was pretty long, and there was a good chunk to read after the "WHEW!" (my poor core development team, i feel for them having to read it all. the fact that it was in all caps (giant email taboo) is strange, but i copied it from a weird file where i couldn't read what i was writing without it being in all caps).
but, one of the most important things in it for me was this excerpt and how it harkened me back to this MATRIX scene and how similar it seems to what happened last night. i haven't even touched web design even though i already know HTML and enough CSS to get started. but then, Gary looked at me and said: "What's blocking you." We then made me believe that i can: "Don't think you are (a web designer), know you are."

The Red Pill

"like i told dw in the comments below, sometimes i wish i would'a taken the blue pill. even through the initial hardships of living in truth, there's no turning back now. my rebirth was painful, but it always is. time to keep forging forward in my truth and meeting all others on the same level. destination: "PARADISE IN THE HERE AND NOW."

fluxlife technorati tag(s): "I Know Kung Fu." - web design - fluxlife -

" ACT BEFORE YOU REACT " - Steve Morozumi

2009-04-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

LAZYBOY TV - ARE YOU QUALIFIED?
one more quote: "IT'S THE BACK-AND-FORTH THAT KILLS YA' (IN YOUR WORK DAY)." that's from an old school past boss of mine, David Letourneau.

okay, one more: "IN STARTING YOUR OWN BUSSINESS, YOU NEED TO CLOCK IN AND OUT LIKE AN EMPLOYEE. SO, YOU'RE BEING YOUR OWN BEST EMPLOYEE AND THE BEST BOSS OF THAT EMPLOYEE AT THE SAME TIME. MASTER THIS, AND YOU WILL COMPLETE ALL YOUR GOALS FOR YOUR BUSINESS."

okay, one more: "TRUE MENTAL FOCUS REQUIRES PHYSICAL FOCUS. THIS PHYSICAL FOCUS I SPEAK OF IS SKILLFULLY DIRECTED ACTION IN CONCERT WITH THE MENTAL FOCUS OF YOUR BUSINESS, OR WHATEVER LIFE PASSION YOU ARE WORKING ON." -Steve Morozumi

okay, one more: "TRY SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR THE DAY SO THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS MOVING IN ONE DIRECTION, AND THAT DIRECTION IS ALWAYS FORWARD, NEVER BACK. IT'S NOT ALWAYS PERFECT AS I'M TRYING IT TODAY, BUT I HAVE SEEN MY EFFICIENCY INCREASE SIGNIFICANTLY OVER ANY OTHER DAY OF WORK AND ACTION I HAVE YET TAKEN." -Steve Morozumi (This is a corollary and exercise to do from Dave Letourneau's quote)

last one: "THINK BIG WHILE STARTING SMALL. IF YOU STAY SMALL DURING YOUR SCHEDULED DAYS OF WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS AND/OR PASSION WHILE ALIGNING EVERY SMALL ACTION WITH YOUR BIG PICTURE CONSISTENTLY OVER TIME, YOUR VISION WILL BUILD ITSELF SO BIG, IT WILL LAST FOR GENERATIONS, AND BEYOND!" "LET'S DO THIS! (whatever dream it is that you want to accomplish)"

have a great one! :D
fluxlife technorati tag(s): fluxlife

fluxlife funky zen download to the brain

2009-04-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

the fastest way humans learn is by imitation (mirror neurons). the most effective way to teach is by being a role model. if i have something to teach, i find that being the thing i wish to teach is much more comprehensible on the deeper levels. this is where the teaching will actually take hold within the other(s). and since we learn fastest by imitation, being a role model for the thing i desire to teach is the fastest and most effective way to teach. words can help for checking course and directing, but that's it. the actual transmission of a teaching is most fully and effectively done by being a role model of that which you wish to teach. words tend to fold back upon themselves over time and create seeming contradictions at various junctures. that is why the buddha taught primarily by example. that is why zen is not the words, it is the people doing zen. the primary teachers of course, are the masters or roshis, like Roshi (Shunryu) Suzuki, who built the San Francisco Zen Center, and not so much the words he spoke, or wrote. There is an exception though. many well practiced zen practitioners are able to receive transmissions through the masters through their written words. see, now my words are folding back upon themselves, and so i stop here on this.

by the way, we are all buddhas (either in training, or in realization of our own buddha nature, which all human beings share). as such, we are all constantly exchanging teacher and student roles without stopping, without end. sometimes we see this, sometimes we do not, but it is always happening.

role playing is good for teaching how to change behavior (or to switch roles in your relationship - being playful in general is good - have fun) and/or how to approach interviews and giving business proposals.

true wealth is not just about money. true wealth is when you are committed to your passion every day that you schedule your passion to happen. every body needs to schedule regular off days, even from their passions, in order to keep them alive.

what i am really trying to do in business is create a life where i am on my own schedule living my passions every day. ...and then i looked at my day and realized i am currently doing that any way. money is just one reflection of the absolute wealth we all hold: inner wealth brought out in the consistent actions upon our passionate commitments. the dollars might not be there yet, but when we have lived this way for a long enough period of time, we will definitely need some offshore accounts to hold all the dollars that will crush us in giant heaps should we not have a direction for them to go besides directly at us. sounds kinda karazay, and kinda real to me. LOL! let's see how this adventure plays out. tell ya' more later. thanks for stopping by! c ya's soon!

have a day of ultimate awesomeness! :D

i leave you with this quote from one of our zen masters, Robert Aitken (starts off with a poem of sorts, followed by the roshi's (master's) commentary:

"At our moonviewing party
there is no one
with a beautiful face."

"I commented on quoting this poem elsewhere:
"What homely bastards we are, sitting here in the moonlight!" This kind of humorous, deprecatory self-enjoyment is the true basis for responsibility, the ability to respond. When you make a mistake, do you punish yourself or can you shake your head with a smile and learn something in the process? If you curse yourself, you are postponing your practice. If you simply tick off the error and resolve to do better next time, then you are ready to practice (to practice is to put into action a system of faith on a consistent basis: zen, yoga, religion, your own personal belief system, etc.)." - Robert Aitken, Taking The Path of Zen, Pg. 9

fluxlife technorati tag(s): zen - fluxlife

BE HAPPY. BE A DOG.

2009-04-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

i just walked my girlfriend's dog and took him to the park. i realized that a dog (or other pet/animal) is already born into their joy and their duty. there is nothing for them to do. by that, i mean they don't have to think to do their duty (no pun intended), they just do it. now, that i've been lucky enough to identify my primary duties in this life; i'll just imitate my girlfriend's dog, because he just acts from his authentic self without having to double check everything: he is just constantly doing what he was born to do. that's it, and nothing else. for him, there is nowhere else to go but where he is, and nothing else to do but what he is doing or not doing.

so, now i will be happy by being a dog. strange maybe, but helpful at the same time.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Pets - fluxlife

Awards

2009-04-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

wow. i've got a number of Blogger awards that have been handed out to me recently that i need to acknowledge and also pass on to many of our fellow Bloggers. I've been sitting on this for quite awhile in Blogger slackitude. i can't get to it now, but i endeavor to put it on my schedule and get to it ASAP!

my apologies to my fellow Bloggers for the wait! acknowledgements and awards coming from fluxlife soon! :D

have a day of superbly awesomeness! blog ya' laters ma peeps!

if you're a tech lover, get some laughs from this hilarious video:
THE WEBSITE IS DOWN

P.S. gotta give a shout out to my buddy Damien over at the
bg/ag publishing blog. we just ran into each other at Dolores Park yesterday. he's got a great post on EARTH DAY. go check it out! i also placed his blog in my blog roll, so if you happen to be down in that area of my blog, you can check out what he's got goin' on for his latest posts.
HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Blogger Awards - fluxlife

The Keys To The Universe Are All Around Us (update 3 - VISUALIZIT! )

2009-04-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do a visualization of each of my pursuits of passion in various meditations and ponerings and then document the results to the best of my ability. It doesn't have to be perfect. If I don't capture everything, that's okay. It will all come togehter as I stay with my passion over time.

In the previous fluxlife post I encouraged the creation of a vision statement as a starting point to accomplish a life dream of yours. I like the idea of adding a written documentation of your visualization of your life dream first, then writing your vision statement. Include other people too. Talk about your vision for what you want to do, whether it's a project, business, organization that you want to build, or even that vacation you've been wanting to take. By bringing your thoughts and dreams to others who are supportive, you're breathing more life into your passions and getting additional guidance along the way. That's it for now, just a brief on my latest thoughts regarding how to build your life's dreams.

I send you my blessings!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): fluxlife

The Keys To The Universe Are All Around Us (Write Down Your Own Rules)

2009-04-15T00:52:00.000-07:00

The Universe is always there, within us and around us. It is always waiting for clear commands from our conscious, subconscious, our body, and our soul. We can all write down our own rules for how we choose to live our lives and what that will look like. The Universe will respond in big ways and small ways.

A real world brief on writing down your own rules to pay no taxes and get money from government.

A personal and/or organization/business vision statement is one of the best ways to communicate your overall intentions for the positive growth and development of your life to The Universe. As soon as I have mine done for myself (personal), and the organization and business that I'm starting up, I'll do a separate post for each one (3 total).

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement is typically composed of a Purpose section and an Outcomes section. You start with the purpose statement which is meant to be big, far reaching, and extremely inspiring. Part of the purpose of the purpose statement is to serve as inspiration throughout the development of your vision. The going gets tough sometimes, so make sure your vision statement can get you through the hard times as well as the good times. The last part of the vision statement, the outcomes statement is more concrete and states what goals exactly are to be accomplished. An important aspect of these goals is that they are measurable. So, you want your outcomes to be awesome like your purpose statement, with the added benefit of being achievable within a stated time period.

In your own way, whether vision statement, mission statement, proposal to your boss and/or other business/relationship prospect, and/or other writing (poems and stories can work too), start writing down your own rules for your life. The Universe will thank you back by knowing what, and who to bring to your aid in your journey. You will thank The Universe back in your gratitude for every thing that it brings.

There is a universe within each of us, that can connect back to The Universe that surrounds us. Writing down our dreams for our lives through our intentions coming from the often buried authentic self is one of the many powerful ways to connect the amazing inner energy/universe we all hold with all of the energy/universe around us.

How do you find the authentic self in order to begin writing your life's vision? Zen meditation and Yoga are two examples that I have used. There are many ways. Find an activity that gives you joy and a feeling of connecting through yourself to all that is, that you do consistently. It could be writing, watching tennis, playing tennis, basketball, running, rock climbing, etc. Movement related pursuits in addition to a mental stimulation pursuit that invigorates your mind and soul are often helpful. Collaborative work is also very powerful as well. Becoming part of a community of people who share your essential goals while you all work towards them together is very powerful. Not all of your goals necessarily have to align. In fact, honoring differences is key to development as well as working with same-mindedness on agreed upon goals within the group or community.

Find your pursuits that you enjoy and stimulate you on a regular basis. Use them to be part of the fuel for your written statements to The Universe. Know thyself, and communicate who you are to everyone and The Universe. Be forthright, and direct. This is our birth right. Every human has a beautiful potential. Exactly who we are in all our differences and similarities is a contribution to both ourselves, everyone, and everything. Be proud of who you are, write down your strengths and weaknesses. Do not be afraid to share your authentic self, it is a miracle! It takes courage. Sometimes it is not easy. Other times it is amazingly easy, and simple. Either way, trudge on! I bless and encourage you to do so! It is worth it!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the universe - vision statement - fluxlife

The Keys To The Universe Are All Around Us (update 1)

2009-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

i'm still pondering and acting upon this idea. so, i've decided to stay with this idea for a time to see what more comes from it, both from myself, and others. has this idea affected you? if so, how? what other thoughts might you have regarding this idea?

for example, Lydia from the "Writerquake" blog has placed a copy of my original TKTTUAAAU (The Keys To The Universe Are All Around Us) in her home. let us know here at fluxlife any of your thoughts/reactions/actions regarding this idea.

as ZenDotStudio said: "Somehow the clarity of the moment can show us that everything is just as it should be AND that doesn't stand against taking some action, if that becomes our insight."

part of my insight on this is now to take action as well as having the idea. so, currently i am working with the insight itself (the idea/thinking part of it) and to take action on the gifts and opportunities all around me (the part of the insight that has called me to action). in the beginning it was just an idea, with no clear actions to take. now it has evolved into idea and actions to take.

what is an action that i have taken towards this idea? i created a private blog that acts as an organizing system for holding all of my ideas, tracking my actions, calendaring and scheduling needs. i already feel and act more organized towards the TKTTUAAAU idea. so i'm diggin' that too. if you'd like to know more about this self organizing blog i've created, feel free to leave a question about it in the comments below. i'll answer your question(s) in the comments section.

thank you very much also to the other commenters and readers from the original TKTTUAAU post. i will be mentioning you as well in the next update: update 2.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the universe - fluxlife

The Keys To The Universe Are All Around Us

2009-04-04T00:55:00.000-07:00

this is why i sit in silence to meditate. this is why i sit by the tennis courts in Dolores Park in complete relaxation and enjoyment. these are some of the times when i can most easily see this truth. to see what is around me with my own eyes in complete clarity and without delusion. these are the times when i see the keys to the universe all around me.

Our destiny is always here. it is when we see exactly what is there around us in the present moment that we have the greatest opportunity to reach out and claim our destiny. every moment of our lives is our destiny. there is no where to go to get it. it is here now within our grasp. do you see it? take a moment, slow things down for a second or two. look around you with your own eyes. practice this. you can find your destiny right now. it is here in this present moment ready for you to grasp it if you are ready. it is always this way. sometimes we see it, sometimes we don't. but, if you understand this exercise, you will realize that this is the life that we have chosen for ourselves, and because of this, everything we want is immediately around us right now. now take a look. do you see what i'm talking about? the universe comes out to meet us in every moment, giving us what we need. when we see this because we're looking through clear eyes, and we come out to meet with it, and receive fully what it is offering, while giving fully in exchange; this is meeting our destiny. it can happen in every moment of our lives.

the keys to the universe are all around us.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the universe - fluxlife

collaborative salad metaphor (what's your metaphor?)

2009-04-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Collaboration is like a salad. Everyone needs to bring their ingredients to the table and put it in the salad.

"If you hold back adding your indgredients that you've brought with you, they go to waste."

If you have a metaphor you'd like to share, please put it in the comments below. Thanks! :D

P.S. The new blog I'm building that's connected to a very exciting project has come along far enough that I can give you the link: thezeldapeoplesproject.blogspot.com Check it out! Give it a follow! Leave a comment!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): collaboration - fluxlife

i'm sooooo bad, and a meaning of fluxlife

2009-03-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

i'm so bad at doing what i'm supposed to, that if you told me to do nothing, i would do something. if you told me to do something, i would do nothing. LOL!

how bad am i? i'm soooo bad that if i tell myself to do something i'll do nothing. that's how bad i am. funny, and scary at the same time.

the only way i get things done is that i accidentally do something while i'm intending to do nothing.

ALTHOUGH, I ALWAYS MAKE IT TO MY APPOINTMENTS EARLY. SO, THAT'S A VOTE IN A POSITIVE DIRECTION.

just thought i'd throw a quick little bit about my current state of mind out there. it will change tomorrow, because change is the only constant. :D-you never know what's going to happen next, and it just might be the most amazing thing you've ever experienced!...

...and that's what just happened! funny how i wrote that yesterday even before i knew exactly how it was going to materialize! i wrote this post yesterday and scheduled it to post automatically before Monday had actually happened. now that Monday has actually happened just before i'm typing this, something totally amazing did just happen. you could say: "the universe just called, and i decided to answer the phone!" this thing is so great i had to retract everything at the beginning of this post, because i definitely am not feeling that way now. quite the opposite!

i just met with two of the most amazing people to collaborate on the project of a lifetime! i met with these people tonite (Monday nite), and my life will never be the same. it's not just tonight that things have been happening with this project and these people, it actually started really happening about two weeks ago. one of the people i met months ago, and i knew something was special about this person. then, last Saturday this person dropped a heavenly bomb on me. it's a project called "The Zelda Peoples Project", and it will be happening right here in San Francisco.

i'm out of time here at fluxlife to go into more detail, but it involves a Google Blogger blog, and i'll reveal the URL and more details about the new blog as things develop.

good night and infinite blessings!

...and this is one of the many ideas behind fluxlife... things always change, and it could be for the better. that's why i say: "sometimes life flux."

fluxlife technorati tag(s): fluxlife

March Madness is awesomeness! (this shiz is off the hook!)

2009-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

wow. i've met a ton of new people lately in San Francisco. it's total March Madness of awesome here! i fuckin' love it! i'll write more in a sec...

okay, so i can walk around a little bit with my knee brace (had knee surgery about a month ago). so, what what. last Friday, Dolores Park right by my house was off the hook! i met Zach Houston the famous type writer poet in the Bay Area/San Francisco, and he busted me out a poem on his total old school manual type writer. meanwhile the park was filled with at least a thousand people in front of us and about a thousand bicyclists filled the road right behind us. it was jam pack-edd with cyclists! one cop rolled up in his cruiser. i said to Zach: "Just one cop can't make this stop." some riders got off their bikes and raised them to the sky in commemoration of the Critical Mass bicycling event (held the last Friday of every month here in San Francisco).

here's the poem fresh off Zach's typewriter:

you just tell him what you want the poem to be about, and then he slams it out with type writer keys and hammers flying!

here's da wordage - (i told him to write about: "entrepreneurial courage" for me):
"the--bubble of having done it is free enough if we let it be paid for with feeling held--over our--threatening head if capitalism is winning we join them with any actually meaning anything is work--if we can get it--in the way of daily life -- like critical mass of anarcho-capitalists will translate into us winning with entreprenuerial consciousness -- -- -- is sarcastically gathered and resold"
--By Zach Houston (zachhouston.com)

what's your March been like?

P.S. i've got at least a few more future posts to write about people of awesome i've met lately , and the March madness in San Francisco. so, any of you out there in SF i've met and given my card to, you're coming up, don't worry. ...and don't worry also, because i'll change the names or omit them to protect the innocent. LOL!

P.P.S. Google Blogger friends of mine: i know i need to get caught up with you too, so don't worry, i'll be in touch and visiting you shortly. i've got some awards to acknowledge from some of you, so i'll get to that too. ...and thank you so much for the awards you guys! i appreciate it very much! Bloggers that gave me awards:
1. Ron Centeno ("In My Own Words" Blog),
2. trishieko ("trishieko" Blog), and
3. irish santillan ("Irish on Bizz" Blog).

P.P.P.S. we're giving the Monday gripe a rest this Monday. we'll bring it back next Monday. if you need to make a tirade of gripage, go down 2 posts and hit it up. i'll check it, and may add a gripe or two of my own.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): San Francisco - Google Bloggers - fluxlife

fluxlife brief

2009-03-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

i've had my head in the sand lately. when i pulled it out, i found these news items to be compelling:

1. the U.S. is massing troops on the Mexican border. i was so unaware of this one that a homeless guy was the one who broke the news to me.

2. North Korea is preparing to launch a missile

3. First-Ever Asteroid Tracked From Space to Earth. this is a long article that rambles. so, what they're saying is: this is the key to understanding our universe.

4. Google has done some major revamping to their search capabilities.

5. the Google news item seems to pale in comparison to the other previous 3 items. nonetheless, who doesn't use Google, and who wouldn't want to know?

6. i should be in bed right now.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): news brief - fluxlife

it's Monday, what's your gripe?

2009-03-23T01:01:00.000-07:00

i thought i'd give the Monday gripe poster boy a rest, and recycle the OFFICE SPACE trailer in his stead for the moment. it makes me smile when i see them smashing the copier. i swear to the gods, every office i've ever worked in, i've wanted to do that to the copier at some point. i really like it when they tell the main character that he's been missing a lot of work lately, and he replies: "I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob." I'll remember that response in case someone says that to me.

WHAT'S MY GRIPE? i'm typing in one spot and the cursor jumps to another already typed line and eff's everything up! arrrrrgggggghhhhhh! i love macs, but they're not perfect. what else? i'm up late when i should be in bed. that's gonna hurt tomorrow because i have an early appointment in the morning. OUCH! also, i slacked and didn't schedule this post to publish. if i would've scheduled it to post ahead of time, i wouldn't be up late right now.

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE?
(embedding was recently disabled. clicking the image brings you to a new tab/window where the video is located) - THAT'S A NEW GRIPE FOR ME! ONLY GREEDY BASTARDS DISABLE EMBEDDING! AND TODAY IS ONLY SAT. 4/4/09! WAIT TIL MONDAY COMES! hahaha!
Song of Artist, M.I.A. featured on soundtrack for Office Space Trailer
fluxlife technorati tag(s): Mondays - Office Space - M.I.A. - fluxlife

fluxlife Sunday Comics

2009-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

click image above to learn more about the artist, Tracy White, and her comic, "TRACED."
(12 panels)

Wolverine rocks! Coming to theatres May 1st 2009!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): traced.com - Sunday comics - Wolverine - fluxlife

motivational quotes for taking action

2009-03-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

after i found some motivational quotes lying on the streets of San Francisco, i committed to starting off every day with a motivational quote before i write out my priorities to be accomplished. the found quotes i published here at fluxlife, are two sides of the same business card sized found item. when i found the card it was the perfect quote for me that day. gotta LOVE San Francisco for stuff like this! i added these other two Eastern quotes from motivationalquotes.com. Sometimes i love the smart assness of ancient asian quotes, either that or their inherent simplicity, or both. hahaha!

OUCH! my leg hurts!
i'm not necessarily religious, but these are the 2 sides of the found card that rocked my motivation a couple days ago when i found it.

i don't know if you've read anything by David Allen (e.g. "Getting Things DONE"), but he's into the so called new knowledge, which is something like action-knowledge. there's a special knowledge that gets added to your foundational knowledge of a thing or a person when you put that foundational knowledge into action. so, in a way, we only know things when we're doing them. the rest is just pregnant theory (LOL!) floating around in our heads: waiting for action in order to give birth to them, and bring them out into the real world.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): motivationalquotes.com - David Allen - fluxlife

Everything's amazing, nobody's happy (hilarious!)

2009-03-19T00:00:00.001-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

click image to view video
comedian Louis CK is pretty darn hilarious and makes a good point while he's talking with Conan O'Brien. apparently, this guy's well accoplished in the comedy, performance, writing, and movie worlds. who knew? and he should be funny on the show, he used to write for Conan O'brien. anyway, it gave me some chuckles and laughs. thought i'd share. hope it puts a smile on your face too! :D
about half way into the 4 min. 12 sec. video the shiz gets really f^@kin' hilarious! it's actually worth it to watch the whole thing. i usually only like videos of 2 minutes or less for use on a blog, or linked to a blog, but this one is worth it. watch the whole thing, you'll be glad you did!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Louis CK - Conan O'brien - fluxlife

Mayor of San Francisco Is Pissed About the Politicization of Gay Marriage

2009-03-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Mayor Gavin Newsom of my great city of San Francisco, has an excellent point. the democratic politicians who are supposed to fight for our civil rights are willing to suspend the equal rights portions of the U.S. Constitution because that's what the opinion polls tell them to do. i know this is how politics gets done, but when politicians clearly violate the U.S. Constitution, isn't there an "OUCH! MY EQUALITY HURTS BUTTON!" that we can press? imagine if we had that button. millions upon millions of U.S. citizens would press it regarding the illegality of PROP 8 in the face of the Equal Rights Clause of the U.S. Constitution!

anyway, it's REFRESHING to see a politician like Mayor Gavin Newsom just tell it like it is without spewing a bunch of political bull sh^t to get some f^cked up ratings.

do you think politicians should run this country based on opinion polls or equal rights for all?

P.S. here's the link for Mayor Gavin Newsom on twitter: twitter.com/GavinNewsom

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Equal Rights - fluxlife

it's Monday, what's your gripe?

2009-03-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

click image to go to site

one of the fluxlife fans likes the above image, so i brought it back from a previous Monday. all in all, i think the: "Hi!, I'm the bleeding with knives in me guy!" is having a worse Monday than i will (this time) ... and here we are at the 6th installment of the Monday gripe. "tempus fugit", or "time flies" as my Latin teacher Mr. Kenney used to say. as has been my practice lately, this is a scheduled post, so it's not yet Monday for me. nonetheless, i think the fact that time flies in general, SUCKS! so, that's my first gripe. not enough time in the day most of the time. my prediction, therefore is that Monday will come and go before i've gotten done what i need to do. my second gripe is that one of the last payments to me came up short. my third gripe is i'm missing some tax documents.

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE ?

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Mondays - fluxlife

fluxlife Sunday Comics

2009-03-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

Attack Of The Show: Best Consistently Good Comics

P.S. even though Blair in the video invites us to join her,
WonderCon SF 2009 has already taken place. :(
That's alright. We'll catch it next year! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Sunday funnies - attack Of The Show - FRESH INK - fluxlife

HOW TO BE A TWITTER POWER USER and your printer is a brat (humorous cartoon)

2009-03-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST HELPFUL twitter HOW-TO VIDEOS OUT THERE! SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, AND ENJOY!

Zadi, the girl on the video talks fast, so i transcribed most of the links and key points from the video in case you miss something:

Video Intro.
twitter.com/zadi
twitter.pbwiki.com
api - application programming interface

Step 1 - You Gotta Find Peeps To Follow

twitterlocal.net - at twitter local you can search for tweets in your neighborthood. enter your zip code and a search radius- it'll give you a real time list of updates (tweets) near you.

crazybob.org/twubble- recommends new twitter buddies by scanning your followers' friends to see who you're missing

fu family - hit us up- Zadi, stevewoolf, rickrey, sarahatwood, annieisms, Pedal, danielmerlot

Step 2 - Searching and Tracking

search.twitter.com - uses the "surmised search engine" - real time search results for phrases and keywords happening on twitter.

use twitter's rss feed link button, favorite reader (like google.com/reader) or feedmyinbox.com - if you want to persistently track something like your name or other subjects

tweetscan.com - has it's own custom email delivery service and caches twitter updates beyond their lifespan on twitter.

Step 3 - Stay On Top of What's Buzzing in The Twittershpere

twitturly.com- looks sort of like digg, it scans the public timeline (on twitter) for tweets with urls, and pushes the most popular links to top of page.
twitscoop.com- instead of ranking urls, it scans every word on twitter and generates a real time list of tags weighted by popularity.
tweetmeme.com - categorizes themes into blog, video, and audio posts.

Step 4 - Desktop Applications

desktop aps - twhirl.org (for pc), and twitterific->iconfactory.com (for mac)

Step 5 - Tweet Your photos

twitpic.com
flickr.twittergram.com

Step 6 - Get Tweets on Your Cell

twitsay.com - records your voice, and transcribes tweets via your phone.
hahlo.com - for your iphone
m.twitter.com - a basic service from twitter that works better than their standard sms service.

EPIC FU'S ARTIST OF THE WEEK (twitter's FAIL WHALE artist)
yiyinglu.com - the fail whale symbol has become the universal symbol for fail.

COMMERCIALS
torpedo-boyz.com
godaddy.com - FU1 code gets you a 10% off entire order - also, check epicfu.com/offers for more offers.-THERE ARE NO MORE OFFERS, I CHECKED THE LINK AND IT ONLY GOES TO THE EPIC FU HOMEPAGE.-Steve

andy stanford - clark - master inventor 40 patents. he's with IBM 17 YRS. MQ telemtry technology "tweetjects" "blogject"-objects that blog-did with cattle for diary from cradle to grave.

revision3.com/tekzilla

fluxlife technorati tag(s): twitter how to - EPIC FU - fluxlife

Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving FORWARD.

2009-03-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

click image for more motivation

when you click the image, you'll be able to view a big fat sheet of 15 of these motivational wolves. if the one above doesn't motivate you, i'm certain you'll find at least 1 on the big fat sheet that does. i keep thinking: "man, i fell on my face yesterday! i made a fool of myself! maybe i sent a mail that i shouldn't have."

then, i saw the above motivational wolf and realized: "yes, i might be a dumb-ass, but at least i'm moving forward!" judging by how far i fell on my face, i should be moving forward by at least 1 quantum leap. hahaha! so, i feel a little bit better about myself at the moment. i hope motivational wolf helps you out too.
...and remember: "don't f^ck with the wolf, just do what she/he says! you can't f^ck with a hungry, growling, teeth baring wolf. that's fo' sho!"

whew! time to get up off the ground, brush off my ego and go get a coffee.

P.S. i just found these 2 quotes of awesomeness and don't know what to do with them, so i slipped 'em in here:
1. "You can find your destiny on the same road that you avoided it."
2. "If you can't get out of a situation, go further in."

fluxlife technorati tag(s): motivational wolf - fluxlife

it's Monday, what's your gripe?

2009-03-09T00:00:00.002-07:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

this is the fifth installment of the Monday gripe here at fluxlife.

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE?

i don't have one at the moment, since i'm so cleverly (hee! hee!)
writing this ahead of time.

but i'll tell you what: not long after your eyes see this post,
i'll be slappin' down a big fat gripe! it'll either be
in the comments section, or right here!

c'mon people! tear it up! with feeling! dig deep down inside
and start bitc#in'! venting is good. :P

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Monday - fluxlife

fluxlife Sunday funnies

2009-03-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

(9 panel comic strip)

top ten social sites for finding a job

2009-03-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

here's the link for the top 10 social sites to get a job: mashable.com

i just clicked the tiny little " Sphere: Related Content " link at the very bottom of this post. the quality of info it grabs varies. typically, it's good stuff though.

Googling the job i want usually yields more options than Craig's List.

a little bit o' humor to prep you for the all important job interview:

fluxlife technorati tag(s): career opportunities - mashable.com - fluxlife

why did i follow myself?

2009-03-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

#1 i needed just one more follower for the fluxlife blog
before world domination could be mine!
#2 a great leader comes from the greatest of the followers.
#3 i'm vain as hell!
#4 i needed something to write about for fluxlife.
#5 i like putting crappy distorted blown up pictures of myself on the fluxlife blog.
#6 all of the above

if you picked #6, then i can tell you're adept at taking multiple choice tests, and kudos to you for that! i'm not saying that's the correct answer, i'm just complimenting you for taking lots of multiple choice tests in your life time.

if you picked #3, you've really got a good feel for my personality, but at the same time you "may" have missed the big picture. ...and i'm using "may" loosely.

if you picked #4, congratulations to you!, because that means you blog a lot! if you blog a lot, it is inevitable that a day (or many days) will come when you will be the bane of your own existence for having absolutely no idea what to blog about.

like the smart ass that i am, i left the correct answer out of the list. while almost all the answers above might work, they are not sufficient.
the real reason: i was just curious to know what blog posts look like when they pop up in a blog follower's "Reading List" in their Blogger dash board. i'll just call it "the reader" for short in the following paragraph.

what's my summary of findings?: 1. Google needs to get someone to fix the bugs in "the reader". 2. putting a photo/image at the top of your blog can help draw interest to your post inside the reader. 3. although a video may look like a photo/image when it's embedded in your blog, it does not show up in "the reader". 4. follow yourself, you'll get good information about how your posts are showing up in other people's readers, AND they'll think you're vain! (which is awesome by the way)
5. i can't believe i just nerded out writing about all this!

P.S. the recent changes that Google has made to the "Followers Gadget" i mostly like, but at first i thought it totally sucked! i still think Google should suck IT!, for not informing us of the change via email!!!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Google Blogger - fluxlife

Nonsense/The End of the World. I Guess that's Change All Right.

2009-03-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

POPP at fluxlife

Obama came along, with his great looks, great speeches, and great ideas - sort of. People either ignored him or fell in love with him. In comparison to John McCain, I fervently prayed he would win the election. But I was not ecstatic, or even hopeful that CHANGE would be a possibility. I know too much about what's been going on behind the scenes on the world stage.

Early last year, I accepted that I was not going to go down the path of the O-worshippers when I heard him say the words "clean coal." I knew then that he was not the ideal candidate for a progressive like me.

I voted for him - wanted that little piece of history, but the taste in my mouth was dry sand. I kinda knew what was coming. And it has. He has surrounded himself with rascals of a Democratic bent, and he is being stung with the venal side of the politics of 10 years ago. The Clintons were rascals too.

And now, the only people he can possibly pick to get the country running again are people who are tainted with the same crap that all the other Washington denizens of the Republican persuasion are - the fast and loose playing with the rules, the hopping-skipping-jumping between government positions and money-making gigs (Emmanuel, Geithner, Daschle, Summers, blah blah blah). And even worse, he had to settle for Bush-era military staff, for "continuity's sake" when we all know that they are lawless roughriders who have willingly participated in the dismantling of the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions.

Hard choices for Obama, and he's screwed up so many times so fast that the taste in my mouth NOW is more like cement or toxic waste.

I do believe that at heart, President Obama is a decent man. But he'd better figure out how to send out his message to EVERYONE, clearly and pretty quick. He'd better learn how to organize the American people to get active. Why the American people even HAVE to call their congressional representatives to urge them to pass the "stimulus" bill (should be called the JOBS bill) is beyond me, but that's the way the game is played.

Barack had better learn how to play hardball WAY BETTER than the Republicans. I haven't seen any evidence that a Democrat has even the slightest clue on how to respond to the message twisting of the neocon army - it's called neurolinguistic programming, and Newt Gingrich had it down by 1994, unlike the doltish Dems who seem to have no backbone and little wit in response to Republican marauding. And he'd better figure out PDQ that the American people are getting really really really mad. People tend to get pretty upset when they can't pay their bills, have no money for retirement after working and saving for 40 years, and they get TOTALLY upset when world-class con artists like Bernie Madoff get to live in their nice 10 bedroom palaces while being investigated for robbing people of all their money - FOR 10 YEARS.

Obama doesn't have much time left to throw softballs at the Repubs and make concessions and leave all of us WHO VOTED FOR HIM to our foreclosures, our nonexistent unemployment insurance (I was too sick to work last year, so have no unemployment to rely on. Since I didn't work, I have no disability insurance to rely on. If I wasn't married, I'd be homeless RIGHT NOW.), our invisible safety net, and our astonished witnessing of the final transfer of our national wealth into the deep deep pockets of the banks, who were allowed to get us all in this mess in the first place by the Republicans who planned for this collapse, and only screwed up a little by the economy collapsing BEFORE the election and not afterwards. You DO know that they knew this day was coming at least a year and a half ago, right? They were planning on all this happening after the Dems got in power, so they could sit back in their hammocks in Dubai, smoke their cigars on their own personal islands, and laugh til they choke about the disaster we are all facing.

When will the Democrats learn that the reins of power actually belong in the people's hands, not those who are elected? When will the Democrats learn that there is no such thing any more as Business-As-Usual. It's just the oddest feeling that I have - that slow motion sense of "oh my god, this CANNOT be happening..." while the country screeches to a halt, the environment literally collapses and there is nothing but printed money that means nothing and will only devalue our wealth to even begin to get us on the right track. But it's about 40 years too late to address the environmental disaster at hand. And it's about 10 years too late to deal with the financial meltdown.

Just what will happen to all the older citizens who were living on fixed incomes? What will happen to all the sixty-somethings who can no longer work for a living, but whose retirements have been completely wiped out? What will happen to the children, the disabled, the undereducated (destroying our educational system was another element of the plan for creating obsolescent human beings)?

No one knows how to farm, or how to do much of anything with their hands any more. We don't have training facilities to teach people self-sufficiency. We don't have plans for when the oil and gas run out (much sooner than you think). We don't have structures in place to protect us when the waters rise. We don't have connections in our cities any more. I know maybe 50 to 100 people in this town, and I've lived here for 11 years. That's pathetic!

This country and this planet are on the edge of a precipice. We might as well have been hit by a meteor. The devastation is so widespread, so profound, that I don't imagine most of us will get out of this alive, by this time 10 years from now. It's THAT BAD.

Pretty soon, when there is no more tax money to be collected because none of us have jobs, and when there are closures of all kinds of public services, and the only people left with any money are the Republicans who spent the last three decades robbing us all blind, what will happen?

Riots in the streets, and a wholesale takedown of "the system"?

I don't think it's going to take much longer.

So here's where we are at right now: At last the people are awakening. Problematically, the Dems are in power, and it is THEY who will pay the price of allowing the Bush Administration to run amok for eight years without anyone putting the brakes on. The damage has been done, so deeply that if we DO pull out of freefall, it may take 30 years to get back on the right track. That's if there is a planet left that's even livable.

I am ashamed to be an American. I am no longer a Democrat. I am overwhelmed by the nonsense. I just can't wait to see what happens next.

Ciao for now,
POPP

related post:
paulgargano.blogspot.com/can-hope-bring-progress

fluxlife technorati tag(s): bank bailout - Constitution - foreclosures - safety net - fluxlife

it's Monday, what's your gripe?

2009-03-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

click image to go to site
this is the fourth installment of the Monday gripe. i missed a couple weeks between the third installment and this one due to surgery, and lack of INTERNET followed by lackadaisicalness. hehe. i almost passed up posting the feature today, and then i saw this guy. i figured he has got to be the poster boy for the Monday gripe.
this doll is a self-caricature of the artist who designed it. maybe i should contact him about the Monday gripe?

on a scale of 1-10, how closely do you currently associate yourself with the doll pictured above?

currently i rate myself between a 6 and 7. throw a few knives in his right knee, and my rating would go up to a 9 or 10. yes, doctor. if you rate how i feel according to this doll you should get a very good approximation of my condition. hahaha!

aside from knee pain, what else do i have to gripe about? it's rainy, cold, and gloomy here in San Francisco. i'm not very inspired or motivated to do anything at the moment. maybe i picked the wrong week to quit coffee? LOL!

just another monday at the office:

fluxlife technorati tag(s): mondays - fluxlife

Obama to rescind Bush abortion rule

2009-02-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

1. my favorite headline for today:
AP Source: Obama to rescind Bush abortion rule (this is a second rule from today separate from the Jan 25, 2009 action taken by Obama).

although the new rule has yet to be reviewed, this is definitely a step in the right direction. i'll write more on this later today...

just to clarify things, Obama has taken two actions towards restoring abortion rights:

1. one of them was taken on January 25th 2009 when he overturned "The Mexico City Policy" started by Ronald Regan back in 1984. it prohibited tax payer funding for any programs that even talked about an unplanned pregnancy.

2. the second one is this new Obama rule which would rescind Bush's rule. a problem with Bush's rule was that a drug store pharmacist could refuse to sell birth control. the rule was too broad, causing ill conceived consequences. Obama's take: "He believes this issue requires a balance between the rights of providers and the health of women and their families, a balance that the last-minute Bush rule appears to upset,"

Obama Overturns Int'l Abortion Funding Ban (from Jan 25, 2009).the video is regarding what Obama did on Jan. 25th this year.
"A Health and Human Services official said Friday (2/27/09) the administration will publish notice of its intentions (for this 2nd Obama action regarding restoration of abortion rights) early next week, opening a 30-day comment period for advocates on both sides, medical groups and the public." - AP
so if you want to have your say on this, you'll have your chance starting next week. SPEAK UP and BE HEARD.

2. my favorite information post for today:
10 Excellent Open Source and Free Alternatives to Photoshop

most of these are free. i have yet to choose one and download it. so, we'll see. let fluxlife know if you've used any of these alternatives and what you think. we can add your thoughts to a future posting about these photoshop alternatives.

3. my favorite legal headline of the day:
man owns 1776 copy of Declaration

this is not quite as significant as i initially thought. in my vicodin haze, i thought it said "1776 copy of the Constitution." i've always wondered if the copies of the U.S. Constitution i've studied have been slightly edited or are dead on the original? oh well, i guess i'll have to find three verified copies from separate sources and make sure they corroberate with each other. that's how historians establish facts from the past. kinda scary to think much of our learning of history comes from information based on the results of this technique.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): abortion - photoshop alternatives - Declaration of Independence - fluxlife

fluxlife update (fluxlife is not dead)

2009-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

wow, it's been awhile. i didn't expect to be away from fluxlife for so long. i'm still having a good amount of pain in my right knee after my surgery. nuthin' a little vicodin can't fix. lol! funny but true. the good news is that i don't have to keep my knee elevated every single minute of the day, which frees me up to finally get back to "fluxing." my definition of fluxing is when you're doing anything that has to do with the fluxlife blog. that includes reading of and commenting at fluxlife as well. sometimes you just gotta flux yourself by fluxing here at fluxlife. hahaha!

there's been a change in philosophy of posting here at fluxlife. before the mantra was: post 6-7 days a week at a minimum. this kind of pace can really help to develop your blogging/writing muscles and is great if you want to write for a newspaper or newspaper type site. but lately, i and at least one of the other writers here at fluxlife have become interested in the developing conversations that often happen around our posts.

personally, i'm as interested in what you the reader have to say, as much as what i have to say. sO!, instead of posting almost every day, i'm interested in slowing it down a little, to give more time for comments and discussion. i'm not sure what this will look like, but i'm guessing we'll put up an awesome post and let it ride for 2 days, then put up another post of awesomeness, and so on.

other important updates: fluxlife is proud to introduce two of our newer writers: Prof H., and Pissed Off Political Puppy. Prof H. has been with us since this past January, and Pissed Off Political Puppy has an upcoming first time post for fluxlife this week. so, check 'em out when you see them post here at fluxlife and give some comment love if you're so inclined.

what else? we've installed a "Read More..." functionality to the posts here at fluxlife, but you can only see it if you're on the fluxlife front page: http://fluxlife.blogspot.com/ . if you click on a link to an individual post, you won't see it. i would like it to work even when a reader clicks on an individual post, but i'm calling it good for now as it is.

i've got hopes for a weekly San Francisco related post with video and or photos of the surrounding area regarding views of awesomeness and points of interest in this amazing city i live in. possibly including interviews of some local personalities? i also want to have fluxlife t-shirts and hats available for contests, give-aways, and for purchase through this blog as well.

one of the other things i'm thinking of right now is adding a feature to showcase one interested fluxlife follower each week. we love our followers here at fluxlife, and we're interested in showing our appreciation and generating general Blogger enthusiasm as well!

that's about it for now. gotta prop up my knee and pop some vicodin. good to see you all again! let us know your thoughts on any and/or all of this, we look forward to hearing what you think!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): blogging - fluxlife

Headline: "Unsold Goods Stifle the Economy" - DUH!

2009-02-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

Prof.H at Fluxlife

It's the consumer, mislearned one!

Ouch! Did I say that? How about this: Our economic crisis was caused by economists!

Now that I've even given myself a spanking, let me break it down for you.

The scientific study of business and trade, now known as "economics", originated among the merchant class as a means of finding methods to increase profitability. Unfortunately, they were entirely narcissistic. That is, they claimed, and even convinced themselves it true, that they were the center of the economic universe, about which all the rest of the economy revolved.

This narcissistic dogma has lingered, haunted, the study of economics for more than two Centuries since.

That isn't to say that many of us didn't winnow out that dogma many years ago. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for anyone to see and grasp their own paradigms from within that paradigm. Consequently, so many economists indoctrinated into the merchant-centric view of economics are greatly impaired beyond that view.

The world is still flat to some.

In this flat, merchant-centric view of economics, consumers are largely taken for granted. Consumer consumption is viewed as largely determined by the actions of businesses - that is, consumers are under the spell of business, and business must be as profitable as possible at all times.

The reality that is beginning to sink into the field, that has been weeping in for a while now, is that consumers are really the engine of any economy - consumers our our economic Sun, about which the rest of us and our economy revolve, and must revolve.

Our current economic crisis arose from many factors. It was a house of cards built on the ill-fated, backwards trickle-down theory of Reaganomics, toppled by sharply rising oil prices (earlier Fluxlife "Cheney..." post), and driven deeply downward by the horrible crush placed upon the most vulnerable consumers (earlier Fluxlife "Real Estate Values" post), exacerbated by misguided "Balanced Budget" ideologies (earlier Fluxlife "California Budget" post).

We put the squeeze on consumers, and we squeezed hard, and we've done them in. In so doing, we've done ourselves in. We may yet be able to fix it, but it is the consumers that we must rescue to do it (see the earlier "Fix the Economy in Six Weeks" post here on Fluxlife). We've always accepted that, by putting on that squeeze, we would do in the most vulnerable, and we accepted that as the price of good, profitable business. We were wrong - dead wrong. Our short-term, narcissistic philosophy is not sustainable in the long term.

We are seeing now the result - we've done in too many American consumers to sustain ourselves, our economy is collapsing, and people are dying. That was always happening, but on a scale small enough for us to dismiss it. We can't do that any more.

Every consumer counts, and the smallest consumers count the most.

Business must learn to bow at the feet of those smallest consumers.

Prof.H
All Rights Reserved.

fluxlife happy valentine's day to everyone! xoxo

2009-02-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

post secret rocks in general and they've definitely rocked out this valentine's day vid! i grabbed the above image out of the vid, because it's pretty darn hilarious! enjoy the video below:

the video below is for all us blog and interwebs geeks out there. i was diggin' the "link love | a geek valentine's day ballad" video from hubspot.com. check it out:

happy valentine's day to all our fluxlife fans and to everyone! we love you all!
btw, i'm recovering well from my knee surgery. i'm mostly in bed with my leg elevated high on vicodin. at the moment i'm sitting in a chair borrowing a friend's computer for this post. i should be back to full blogging by monday or so. thanks for all of your support regarding my surgery and recovery! xoxo

fluxlife technorati tag(s): valentine's day - fluxlife

it's Monday, what's your gripe?

2009-02-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi at fluxlife

click image to see video
Christian Bale had ultimate gripitude on the set of Terminator Salvation last week. so, i thought i'd repost him up here at fluxlife with a link to one of the videos floating around the interwebs.

this is the third installment of the Monday gripe here at fluxlife. this week, my first gripe this is that i'll be getting surgery on my right knee this Thursday and i'll be staying at a place where the wireless internet is sometimes there, sometimes not. i'll be there for up to a week recovering. limited or completely lacking internet is not cool. then again, if i get cut off from the interwebs, maybe i'll remutate into a regular human being vs. a human being that is gradually merging with his laptop and the internet.

my other gripe is that in the middle of typing on one line, the cursor on my mac book will jump to another random area where i don't want it to be while i'm still typing. it messes up the html, or the text that i'm working on. it really pisses me off when i'm adding or deleting things in my blogger html/css template! @#$%^!!!

those are two of my current gripes for this monday. what's your gripe?

just another monday at the office:

fluxlife technorati tag(s): mondays - fluxlife

Lazy Sunday - SNL - this is truly hilarious!

2009-02-08T00:00:00.001-08:00

"Lazy Sun." SNL vid featuring the rap: "The Chronic(what)cles of Narnia":

this 2 minute 27 second video short features SNL players Chris Parnell, and Andy Samberg. i'm glad i found it, and i hope you get a laugh out of it!
_______________________________________________________

Scott Meyer, the creator of the basic instructions comics, has one of the better comic strips available on the interwebs. most of his stuff is pretty funny. the strip presented below got the most laughs out of the fluxlife crew. enjoy!

(4 panel comic strip)

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Lazy Sunday - SNL - fluxlife

unrealistically high expectations for skanks (theonion.com)

2009-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

OMG !!! the onion frequently puts out some superbly hilarious videos. this is one of those times.

Bret Michaels' show on VH1 often makes me want to pop out my eyeballs even if it's just in between channel changes. other times i sit there in shock, unable to move. i'm wondering where women like this come from, and being horrified that they may actually exist in real life. hahaha!

well, thank bajeebus for theonion.com! they've got some hilarious solutions to help out these forlorn and forsaken women of the Bret Michaels fan club and other women just like them on reality tv.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): theonion.com - fluxlife

holy crap!, why don't i have a post up yet?! ;p

2009-02-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

if Iran can launch a satellite into space, the least i can do is get a post up for fluxlife. lol! i don't mean to make light of this news and i've got some comments on that as well as some other stories of the day that caught my eye, or in one case: my nose!

i like to have the fluxlife posts scheduled to publish by 12:00 midnight 6-7 days a week. it's now 12:25AM on wed. 2/4, so that's a fail at the moment. wow. i could add this to the monday gripes comments as well. suh-weeet. i think i will. ...and i did. :|

feck! sh|t! damn! where in the heck is my post for today?! wow. i've caught the Christian Bale extreme terrets syndrome! lol! i'm done ranting for the next year. hahahhaha! okay, i'm off to get some real news stories together...

1. this might be extremely offensive, but i just had to put out some coverage of Christian Bale exploding on set. i can't fully criticize him. as you can see i've got some of my own issues. lol! although, in Bale's case, he really lost it way farther than i would take it. just to broaden the perspective, he's not the only actor doing this. he's just the one that got caught. here's the audio with a slide show:

2. okay, the Iran thing. well, this event kinda blows my mind. up until now, most of the attacks, intel operations, military intelligence and weapons initiatives in the world have been intermingled with Pentagon, CIA and various American Black Ops initiatives. this one?, i think they're acting on their own. weird! we might've "inadvertently" sold 'em some of the parts to their home made rocket and satellite, but that's about it i'm pretty sure.

3. well, the above stories caught my eye and ear (lol)! what caught my nose? apparently, some pranksters in San Francisco are lighting port-a-potties on fire on Lombard St. and, of course, people are raising a stink about it (can i laugh at that one, or was it just a really bad pun)? hahahaha! normally, i would just say: "haha, that's pretty funny!" unfortunately, whoever these kids are, they're doing it repeatedly and it's not so good because of that. with at least $50,000.00 in damage so far and the high fire risk to nearby homes, i would like you guys to stop now if you're reading this. thanks guys!

4. over at the Musings on News-things blog, Emma Boon's tearing it up again with a pretty darn amazing twitter gone wild story. apparently some guy used twitter to aggregate a snow map using Google Maps based off of twitter respondants. go check it out. if you're into twitter at all, you'll be psyched!

5. that's all the news damage they'll pay me to do for today. tell us your thoughts on whatever grabs you here in this post, and i'll blog you later! thanks for reading and visiting over here at the fluxlife blog!
-Steve Morozumi =D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): current.com - today's news - fluxlife

Restoring the " Watershed " : Fixing the Economy in Six Weeks...

2009-02-03T01:01:00.000-08:00

Prof H. at fluxlife

...Guaranteed!
Does that sound bold?

Not if you deal with the economic crisis at its heart - where the economy springs forth: from consumers themselves.

The Federal government has already doled out an $800 billion rescue package for the finance industry. Consequently, those financiers didn't have to give up their plans to buy $50 million private jets. It was only later that public outcry delayed (for now), the notorious $50 million purchase.

Obama has asked Congress to pass another $820 billion dollar stimulus rescue package for the economy. It will likely bring relief to average Americans within a few years. The Obama package also has the added benefit of directly creating jobs. It also addresses the critical importance of investing in the national infrastructure (that has now been long neglected). But, jobs rescue the economy primarily by increasing consumer funds leading to consumer spending.

Both packages have flaws, and neither really helps the majority of average residents soon enough. They both seek to fix today's problems, but not until some time later on down the economic brick road.

So why not fix today's economic woes today?

Step 1: Up to $50,000 cash for most Americans, NOW. The U.S. Treasury has the ability to issue cash to every adult resident citizen of three or more years receiving income under $150,000, no strings attached. Not a petty amount up to $600 like the early Bush stimulus package, but a significant amount up to $50,000. Any individual normally receiving less than $50,000 in annual income gets $50,000 stimulus cash, tax exempt, from the Treasury. Individuals earning more, up to $150,000, receive decreasing amounts, $1 less stimulus cash for each $2 above $50,000 that they normally receive.

That's more than 75% of all resident citizens receiving substantial stimulus payments. Does this include you?

Now, who normally making less than $50,000 a year, suddenly receiving a $50,000 lump sum, isn't going to spend money? How many on the verge of foreclosure will be able to prevent that foreclosure? How many new cars will suddenly replace old, polluting clunkers? How many popular consumer products will fly off of the shelves, saving retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers across the economy?

Within six weeks of those stimulus payments reaching most Americans, the economic downturn would be an upturn that will carry the economy at least into early 2010, and upon which sustained growth and stability could be built. And all for price on par with the finance industry rescue and the Obama stimulus package.

Step 2: Tax exemption for most individuals. When the income tax was first implemented, it taxed only wealthy income levels, not people struggling to eat properly and maintain a rudimentary level of shelter and security. In fact, only something like 10% of the population earned enough to become subject to direct income taxation. So, exempt 85% to 95% of the population, the middle class and everyone not receiving exorbitant incomes, from all direct taxation. Roughly, everyone making less than thrice the highest income level receiving stimulus payments under Step 1, above.

Importantly, for the current crisis, that elevated individual exemption needs to be applied to the 2008 tax year, so that taxpayers making less than $450,000 in 2008 receive their 2008 withholdings back this coming April - a second influx of cash stimulus to the consumer economy. More importantly still, that $450,000 2008 exemption level needs to increase automatically every year to keep pace with inflation and growth across time.

Although this step involves setting a 40% flat tax rate, because the first $450,000 of everyone is exempt, a person has to make $900,000 income to reach an effective 20% tax rate. Consequently, even individuals receiving income in the low seven figure range will see an effective reduction in tax rate, although the elimination of deductions may begin to quickly offset that savings for many in that income range. In short, only those receiving extraordinarily high incomes begin paying higher income taxes, mostly since it is a flat tax rate and there are no deductions to calculate or be taken.

Apparently, Congressional Republicans have cried out for tax cuts, and this step should send them dancing into the streets, representing the largest tax cut in the history of direct taxation of individuals in the U.S.

Clearly, alternative revenue sources will be necessary. In a consumer based, free-market economy, however, non-critical consumer product taxation methods, such as value added taxes and wealth and luxury taxes, are more appropriate than income taxes as primary revenue sources.

Step 3: Finance relief for individuals on par with the $800 billion financial industry bailout. That means that any individual receiving a stimulus payment under Step 1, above, also gets debt relief. Any financial industry creditor receiving Federal intervention during 2008 or later must forgive any unsecured consumer debts (including student loans) that it holds against individuals eligible for stimulus payments. Those forgiven accounts then must also be reported to credit bureaus as accounts paid in full, rather than write-offs. The revolving credit debt of the average consumer is something near $15,000, and the economy requires that the stimulus payments go toward consumer spending rather than to the financial industry already getting direct Federal assistance.

Step 4: Direct mortgage lending at a fixed 1% interest rate to individuals exempted from direct taxation in Step 1, above, no strings attached and no closing costs, up to 120% of real economic valuation (not "comp" valuation, see Fluxlife post dated 01-07-2009). This protects consumers and the finance industry throughout the future from the risks and costs of subprime loans without barring vulnerable individuals from access to home ownership. Moreover, those in or on the verge of foreclosure would be immediately refinanced into this direct lending program at real economic valuations.

Steps 5 and beyond continue to solidify and stabilize the economy in the longer term, focusing on the economically critical breadth of the consumer base. Indeed, the above steps alone will strongly resurrect our mortally wounded economy immediately, but additional and fundamental changes are needed to sustain that resurrection. Still, unlike every other plan, this Six Week Plan will realize significant results within six weeks beginning with consumers, and will address the gap forecast between now and the time when any significant results reach average Americans under the other plans.

So get out there and start lobbying your new President and Congressional members for your own tax relief and stimulus funding! And don't stop there. Lobby your governor, your mayor, your state and local representatives to get them to, in turn, lobby your U.S. Congress and President Obama. Be heard and help save America! ... and buy yourself something nice along the way.

Prof.H
All Rights Reserved.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): stimulus plan - fluxlife

what's your monday gripe? (#2)

2009-02-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

last monday, there was nothing really awesome or cool going on, so i opened things up to the first monday gripe post here at flulxife. a number of readers thought it was a good idea, so i brought it back.

what's your monday gripe? feel free to vent about anything whether it has to do with monday or not. if you have a gripe later on in the week, come on back, scroll down, and let 'er rip!

my gripe for the moment is that i'm running behind and the week's just started! lol! course, the guy in the commercial below is having a way worse monday than me! hahaha!
just another monday at the office:

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Mondays - fluxlife

fluxlife sunday funnies

2009-02-01T00:51:00.001-08:00

(4 panel comic strip)

fluxlife technorati tag(s): joyoftech.com - fluxlife

fluxlife Comedy Break - Kid's Beer Stand

2009-01-31T00:28:00.000-08:00

a little bit o' poor taste mixed with tons of hilarity! check it out:
fluxlife technorati tag(s): Jimmy Kimmel - fluxlife

twitter compilation album/post

2009-01-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife
(continued from last Steve M. post on 1/29)

i've finally gotten myself freed up to grab some recent info. surrounding twitter that i have found useful. the goodness of twitter is debatable, but here's a recent story that reinvigorated my twittertude:

MY TWITTER COMPILATION "SONG" 1:

this is my retweet (copy someone else's tweet (post on twitter) and give them credit by placing an "RT" in front of the copied tweet followed by an "@" in front of their name):

if you click on the above image, it will take you to Mr Tweet's blog where he has reposted the story from the original blog onto his blog.

OKAY! so, this is awesomeness: some guy orders his food on twitter, and the cafe' obliges! the local twitter community takes note, and the biz owner doubles the size of his customer base! that is the shahiznit! how about you, what do you think? now that you have the power of this information, what will you do with it? ;)

TWITTER COMPILATION "SONG" 2:

after the inspirational story, i thought: "who is this Mr Tweet, and why is he the Mr of tweeting?" well, check out this link describing his free services: Mr Tweet - Your personal networking assistant. i hooked up with Mr Tweet and he (or his algorithm) made some recommendations to help me improve my networking efforts on twitter. one of his recommendations was to follow problogger on twitter. i did so. from that i got this story:
Expand Your Brand & Career: Open a Twitter Account. Right Now. excellent title, though not the punchiest and most exciting read i'll admit. too long of an article to keep me reading. still, it does raise some usable points about twitter, and it's a good reference to go back to.

TWITTER COMPILATION "SONG" 3:

before all the above was rollin' up in my joint, i ran across a journalist blogger with an excellent "get to know twitter post" which had links to help explain twitter & related jargon. check it out: Tweeple, Tweetups and Twirting Translated. The post is from Emma over at the Musings on News-things blog. Stop by her blog, and give her a shout. she's also got another excellent twitter related post up today as well.

RECOMMENDED TWITTER PEEP TO FOLLOW:

mediaphyter. she writes articles for ZDNet among other things, and she'll follow you back pretty damn quickly. good person to have in your twitter network.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): twitter retweet - Mr Tweet - Problogger - musingsonnewsthings - Jennifer Leggio - fluxlife

the twitter compilation album/post (intro)

2009-01-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

why the twitter compilation post? because there's actually enough good and interesting news about twitter to write about and/or compile today. i thought that twitter had gotten stale, but no, it's fresh again.

what's your twitter news and/or story? seen/heard anything good on twitter lately?

if you don't have a twitter account, go check it out: twitter.com !

if you do have an account, follow me: twitter.com/zumisf , i'll say "hi!", and follow you back!

more coming soon...

fluxlife technorati tag(s): twitter - fluxlife

The California Budget and the Folly of "Balanced Budget" Politics

2009-01-28T01:01:00.000-08:00

Prof.H at Fluxlife

In the recent history since the Reagan Presidency, the idea of a balanced government budget has become a mantra to some. Indeed, increasing debt burdens coupled with unfavorable interest rates can, eventually, become a drag on the economy if the growth of the debt rapidly outruns the growth of the economy. However, to regard the concept of a balanced budget as an imperative is inane and far more harmful to the economy than the debt that it seeks to avoid.

Government spending is a significant portion of the overall spending in the economy, and it is essential to a healthy economy and society. If there is any one lesson that we must learn from our current economic crisis, it is that it is spending in the economy that is the primary factor that drives and sustains the economy. Consumer spending is the most important engine for the economy, but government spending is the next most important. If government spending contracts even as consumer spending contracts, the entire economy falls and even collapses.

Balanced Budget Politics must be replaced by Stable Budget Politics if there is to be any hope of tempering future economic volatility. It must occur at both State and Federal levels.

Stable Budget Politics works something like this: A SURPLUS (revenue) budget must be required during times of economic boom, where the economy grows substantially in a given year; a BALANCED budget must be required during times of moderate growth; and, a DEFICIT budget must be maintained during times of near-zero economic growth or economic contraction. Overall, the goal must remain that during economic contractions, government spending either remains stable or actually increases.

There are a great many and substantial details involved in implementing and executing Stable Budget principles, and this is a mere conceptual overview. It is, however, a concept that needs a whole lot more attention.

One of California's problems appears to be that it engaged in large-scale deficit spending even during times of tremendous economic boom, leaving it still carrying large debts when it should have been bankrolling its savings accounts. Consequently, when the economy went sour, California's economic position was gravely disadvantaged. Coupled with the credit crunch, California found itself unable to increase its borrowing, and it's ability to maintain even basic governmental functions has become jeopardized.

Unlike most states, California's state economy is of a scale on par with the largest national economies in the world. Small and rural states, entering the recession equally disadvantaged, would be in even worse shape, but state spending remains important in those states. Consequently, what the Federal government needs to do is provide direct lending to states employing Stable Budget principles at a low 1% or less interest rate during any period where deficit spending is dictated by those principles.

Stable Budget spending principles can be implemented immediately, and they can help the current economy recover. However, their greatest value to society is that they will substantially reduce future economic instability and help prevent and minimize future economic recessions. Had they been instituted two decades ago, California's current budget crisis would not exist, and the last threads of the state's entire economy would not be hanging in the balance.

Prof.H
All Rights Reserved.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): budget politics - Reagan Presidency - California's Economy - economy - fluxlife

should i post on a Monday? (#1)

2009-01-26T16:20:00.001-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

for lack of some really awesome super cool news, and the fact that it's Monday; i hesitate to post.

maybe this should be a space to comment on gripes, complaints, and general grumpiness. WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE? WHETHER IT'S RELATED TO MONDAY, OR NOT.

my gripe for the day: "i just found out that a video camera donated to the fluxlife blog doesn't have current software to work with any of our lap tops. oh poo!, i say. that's my gripe. WHAT'S YOURS?

i just found this after the fact. pretty interesting for a Monday:

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Mondays - fluxlife - Blagojevich considers Oprah

DaisyOwl.com (fluxlife Sunday Funnies)

2009-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

fluxlife technorati tag(s): daisyowl.com - fluxlife

In San Francisco - Bush St. changed to Obama St.

2009-01-23T10:37:00.001-08:00

itcanbe for fluxlife

Change is the gift that keeps on giving !! - I like the new street name. How about you? Come visit our fine city and check it out !! I didn't realize our street crews had become so progressive. Wait, maybe that's not a sanctioned crew out there.

Well, whatever the case may be, I hope the new street name "sticks", if you know what I mean.fluxlife technorati tag(s): San Francisco - Obama - fluxlife

Gay Bishop Speaks about Inauguration on Daily Show

2009-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

itcanbe for fluxlife

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Bishop Gene Robinson

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Bishop Gene Robinson is well spoken, intelligent, composed and respectful. He also makes a quip that has Jon Stewart cracking up - usually pretty hard for a guest to do.

It's impressive to see his composure, especially in light of the fact that he was dropped from an HBO inaugural dedication ceremony.

We here at the fluxlife blog would love to see Prop 8 erased from the books. Maybe Bishop Gene Robinson can help accomplish this through his connection with the Obama administration.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): The Daily Show - Bishop Gene Robinson - The Inauguration - fluxlife

Martin Luther King Day

2009-01-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

I posted this after the fact. Even so, I felt it was timely not just for MLK day, but also regarding the U.S. wars being waged in the Middle East.

Here's to Dr. Martin Luther King! May we have peace inside and outside our country as well!

-Amen

technorati tag(s): MLK Day - peace - fluxlife |

The Economic Collapse: A Well Predicted Surprise?

2009-01-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

Prof.H on Fluxlife

Cheney on the Economy: "No One Ever Saw it Coming."

Cheney couldn't have been more wrong about that.

The economic collapse that began in the last quarter of 2008 was entirely predictable, and was predicted more than two decades ago.

Let's revisit those predictions, as they were made during debates over Reagan's then-proposed economic theories: "This 'Reaganomics' idea is going to create an economy built like a house of cards. Something is going to shake it and cause it to collapse and collapse big - huge. We could be facing something worse than the Great Depression. There are many things that could trigger the collapse, but if nothing else does first, a sustained period of sharply rising oil prices are sure to."

This is exactly what happened through the first half of 2008. Oil prices rose and continued to rise, the economy shook, and collapsed like a house of cards. The first card to fall hardest and fastest, the housing market, fell first because that entire market was itself a house of cards built atop the house of cards of the overall economy. Many of those cards are still drifting down from their lofty heights, and will continue to do so for some time to come.

It's not that "no one ever saw it coming." It's that Cheney and everyone that he paid attention to didn't see it coming because they didn't understand, or didn't pay attention to, the fundamentals of the economy. The fundamentals of the economy are easily obscured by esoteric theories, but those fundamentals will always come back and wreck havoc if they are forgotten.

It isn't that Reagan was so terribly wrong. Indeed, the economy does "trickle down", as his economic theories proposed. What he did get wrong was how truly like a spring-fed watershed the economy is: it doesn't trickle down from a few vast deposits of wealth, like the seas and oceans; it trickles down from the many millions of the smallest, most remote, most inaccessible consumers, like the springs high above the headwaters of the smallest streams and brooks. Those smallest streams and brooks can be likened to small family and neighborhood businesses, and onward up the scale of businesses we go as we travel further downstream, and then downriver, through the watershed that any economy is.

In short, Reagan's error was that he got it backwards.

Prof.H
All Rights Reserved.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): economy - the economic collapse - Reaganomics - trickle down theory - oil prices - Dick Cheney - fluxlife |

Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months

2009-01-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

'A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm circa 2012.'

About 150 years ago, a solar storm took out a good part of the telegraph systems on the planet. Experts in diverse fields addressing this problem, claim that we're due for another big one. The next really big solar storm could happen between now and 2012, in 2012, or just after that year. These space, industry, and academian people really know how to nail down a date, don't they (lol)!

More recently, in 1989, a significantly sized solar storm took out power to the entire country of Quebec, Canada.

In the past, we lost some telegraph systems, and power to a country. This time we'll lose a lot more, we've got much more at stake. Not a bad time to cultivate some low tech skills like organic gardening. I think Cuba wrote the book on survival gardening when everything in your nation fails. Check it out at: The Humble Yogini .

FOXNEWS article: http://foxnews.com

fluxlife technorati tag(s): solar storm - foxnews.com - fluxlife |

Get Paid For Lounging Around Great Barrier Reef

2009-01-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

i just got a follow on twitter today from the employer offering $105,000.00 USD to travel around this part of Australia for 6 months, find out what the islands have to offer, and blog about it. the employer's server(s) is/are jammed and i can't access it (not surprised). i thought it was another twitter spammer; but no, it's real. surprisingly, only about 200 people have applied for it so far...

here's the NPR report: Get Paid For Lounging...

here's the twitter profile following me: The_Best_Job

update: i got on the site starting on 1/14/09: http://www.islandreefjob.com

would you take the job if it was offered to you? why do you think they're paying so much money for the position, and putting it up for global application? happy job hunting if you decide to go for it! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the best job in the world - fluxlife |

DaisyOwl.com (fluxlife Sunday Funnies)

2009-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Why smart kids should only play with other smart kids :

fluxlife technorati tag(s): daisyowl.com - fluxlife |

Major Flu Strain Found Resistant to Leading Drug, Puzzling Scientists - NYTimes

2009-01-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

NYTimes article: Dominant U.S. flu strains resistant to leading antiviral drug

So, now the doctors want to go nuts and waste time and resources coming up with the next big bomb against the flu. I think the time would be better invested informing the public to do the following:

If you're sick, don't go to work, or go out. Stay home. If you're sick and you do have to go out, bring tissues/handkerchief(s), hand wipes, and wear gloves. Cover your mouth when you cough with the crook of your elbow and turn your head away from people while doing so. If you make the mistake of touching a door handle with your bare hand, wipe the door handle with an alchohol wipe or handi wipe. Wash your hands immediately if you make the mistake of coughing or sneezing into them. Use a dry paper towel or part of your sleeve after drying your hands to grab the bathroom door handle.

I know some of my recommendations sound insane, but the flu has a high potential to kill the elderly, infants, and small children as well as other at risk populations. So it's worth it if you're infected to do these things.

That's my swift solution to thousands of doctors and scientists running around trying to use DNA mapping to create the next big flu bomb. The dominant flu viruses are now mutating much faster than modern science can cope. Meanwhile, people are needlessly infecting others and being the agents that actually spread the disease due to lack of being informed of how critical the situation is.

Flu viruses don't spread flu viruses: people do.

There, that's my campaign for the month. Don't just slime someone to death (lol)! Stay home and get better! Call people for help while you're home and have them take precautions to avoid getting and spreading the infection during and after they bring you stuff!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): flu - fluxlife |

it's not about being in control

2009-01-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Steve Morozumi for fluxlife

it's about being willing to understand what is going on with the self, another person and/or event. and then willing to understand any automatic behavior response that may be happening on your part (esp. delusion, hate, or greed (see the Zen Dot Studio blog)). part of the theme for this fluxlife blog post is also reflected in a bumper sticker over at The Humble Yogini blog. little bit o' synchronicity goin' on. :)

it's about being willing to adapt based on knowledge of the authentic self and others' authentic selves. the authentic self is from whence we came: the divine. and this is what we truly are, but we often spend our lifetime layering over this with other things and covering up our true divine origins.

find out as much as you're able on the externals (people, place, & thing(s)) of something you're grappling with, then get curious about how you're playing out in the story. do you have delusion, hate, or greed going on with yourself? if it's fear, i just got some great advice from Dr. Wayne Dyer: "Get curious about your fear of something. Shift from fear (to something more productive)." When you look into the fear at hand, instead of skipping over it, or becoming more scared of it: you'll find out where you're at with it. has this type of reaction happened before? what is going on inside of you that's causing you to play your role in this situation as you are? do you wish to change your roll from reacting (vs. acting), or are you doing relatively okay as you are? how are other people in this experience relating to you? how are you relating to yourself?

afraid, or having some negative reaction to something? GET CURIOUS about it. look into it. ask yourself some questions. you will find some insight, and it will help you. if you feel that you have no questions to ask, find someone who can help you get curious about your fear, hate, delusion, lack of patience, greed, anger or challenging relationship or situation.

now if i can just take my own advice, i should be rockin' it in 2009 (hahaha)!

" inhale positivity " by Lazy Boy
fluxlife technorati tag(s): Dr. Wayne Dyer - control - fear - anger - delusion - get curious - fluxlife - Lazy Boy |

Renewal in the New Year: 2009 & the Mortgage Crisis

2009-01-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

Prof.H
All Rights Reserved.

Looking forward to 2009, I daresay that I am an optimist. Yes, indeed, in 2009 we are staring down the gullet of the darkest economic times this nation has seen since the Great Depression.

But then, what comes of such things?

The answer is: it depends.

For one, real estate prices still need to fall further, and with some luck, they will.

"Ouch! No way!", some might retort, failing to understand the realities of real property.

Fundamental of Real Estate Value #1: the present value of a property is never worth more than its market rate rental would support. This means that, assuming that the property were rented, the rental revenues must pay for all expenditures associated with the property, assuming 100% financing of the property. This includes: mortgage, including both principle and interest; maintenance; management; taxes; insurance; utilities; all the rest.

This applies even if the intent is to buy a home to personally live in it. It's ultimate use doesn't matter, the rental rate that it could collect still dictates it's real present economic value.

ANY amount paid for a property in excess of that calculation is a gamble on future appreciation.

This is the most basic, most fundamental, most important reality of real estate for any buyer to know. Unfortunately, few did, and our current mortgage crisis has been caused by fraud committed by the real estate and financing industries upon buyers/borrowers. Industry insiders grievously misled buyers/borrowers into believing that inflationary "comp values" (prices of recent sales in the area of properties of comparable character) represented property values and justified the purchase price.

This was, flatly, fraud. And it was a fraud that led buyers/borrowers to gamble away future appreciation of real present values for the next generation or two or three, or more in some areas.

A quick and easy rule of thumb for determining real present property values: for every $100 rental revenue the property can generate, it is worth very roughly $10,000.

So, indeed, property values remain inflated in many areas, particularly in California. A quick survey of properties for sale, excluding bank owned (REO) properties, in the San Francisco Bay area, particularly the Peninsula, are still generally priced at twice or more of their current real present value. Perhaps, as the economic conditions in the nation worsen progressively through the coming year, this inflation may finally evaporate. Certainly, reform is required, and the past practices of misrepresenting property values should be prosecuted industry-wide. Moreover, laws must be enacted specifically forcing everyone involved in real estate and financing, from real estate agents to financiers to government assessors, to identify those real present values and disclose them to buyers.

More importantly, it is the buyers/borrowers themselves, the victims of this fraud, whom the U.S. Treasury should be disbursing bailout funds to, and not to the perpetrators that helped defraud them.

technorati tag(s): real estate - economy - mortgage crisis - fluxlife |

we seldom ask for what we really want

2009-01-06T09:37:00.000-08:00

"We seldom ask for what we really want. We ask for what we think we can get or ought to have, but seldom ask for what we really want. Ask."

i got this from DeLores Pressley on twitter. it rocks! use it!

fluxlife technorati tag(s): ask - fluxlife |

what does the new year hold for you?

2009-01-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

i was being prodded by one of the fluxlife crew's ideas people (fcip) to post this question for New Year's Day '09. i think it blends perfectly with yesterday's post and opens things up for discussion, vs. me yapping some type of bloggish monologue (translate as= my lazy a@$ can stop writing now) (lol)! so there it is, fcip: i listened, i wrote, i'm done (hahaha)!

hey there fluxlife readers, pick one, two, or more things that '09 might hold for you! take some time, give it some thought if you need to. i won't put up a new post until Tuesday 1/6/2009, just to allow more time for readers to comment on this one (wow, do i know how to milk a good thing! maybe i'll take a vacation? hahaha)! should i actually pay that fcip person for this idea (lol)!? heck, it might be worth it!

MONDAY JANUARY 5, 2009:
HERE IT IS, THE FINAL DAY FOR TELLING US "WHAT DOES THE NEW YEAR HOLD FOR YOU?" BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY (about 4am PST on 1/6/09), I'LL WRITE A NEW POST AFTER I JOT DOWN SOME OF WHAT I THINK IS UPCOMING FOR ME, THE fluxlife BLOG, and A NEW BLOG I'LL BE CO-WRITING WITH JANAKI from THE HUMBLE YOGINI (I PUT IT IN THE 28th COMMENT REGARDING THIS POST).

--Steve @ the fluxlife blog

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

on a different but related note, i thought i'd bring the following item back from a previous post. pondering: "what is happiness?" could be helpful towards inspiring comments on: "what does the new year hold for you?". the thought came to me when i was over at the Zen Dot Studio blog and she mentioned the Matthieu Ricard video on happiness that i had posted on fluxlife.

previously on fluxlife:
"while speaking with a good friend over the phone, she revealed this to me: The HAPPIEST Person In The World :"

Matthieu Ricard

music vids: 1. pixies: "here comes your man", 2. massive attack: "teardrop"

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the new year - fluxlife - Matthieu Ricard - happiness

clearing a path

2008-12-31T12:13:00.000-08:00

i thought that today would be a good day to mentally and materially clear the path for the new year.

mentally, i can do this with two different meditation styles back to back. one is similar to the soto zen meditation. the other is. i picture the positions of my back to back sittings looking like a Janus symbol: looking forward to the new year and backward to the previous year.
to tie up all loose ends materially, i will have to utilize the first half of January 2009 to do so. not bad.

i would like to take a moment to thank all the fluxlife readers, commenters, and fans for your patronage. we here at the fluxlife blog, highly appreciate it and are forever grateful!
from myself to all the fluxlife readers and everyone:
have a year of gratefulness and many auspicious moments in 2009! :D

deep bow and Namaste',
-Steve @ the fluxlife blog

fluxlife technorati tag(s): clearing a path - Soto Zen - fluxlife

good news and bad news

2008-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

the good news for the day is:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

the bad news for the day in technology is:

Tech: What will go wrong in 2009

the above link leads to a long article, so i'm distilling the main points below, as well as adding some of my own solutions not mentioned in the article:
1. hackers are now hijacking traffic by using the internet servers that translate the name of a site like msn.com to it's numerical equivalent like 208.67.111.222 (not a real translation). what this means is that a user can go to a trusted site with everything secure and done right, but all the information within the transaction gets rerouted to a different server where the hackers can later retrieve it. i recommend using a service like OpenDNS.com to protect against this. the service is free for a residential internet account. i've got it on my wireless service at home. i've got a buddy that works there. i might do an interview with him for fluxlife in the next month.

2. mobile phone attacks will happen in the future as mobile banking becomes more prevalent. no need to panic yet, but start thinking about alternate secure ways to do your banking so attackers don't get your account and PIN numbers from your cell phone in 2009.

3. attackers have found ways to exploit web and browser vulnerabilities so that they can place a virus on a server. so, you've got a trusted site on an infected server. you go there, and bam, you're hit. an example of this is when the internet explorer browser got hacked earlier this month. EXPERTS RECOMMEND DOING YOUR UPDATES WHEN THEY COME UP AND NOT WAITING.

4. attackers are taking advantage of social networking sites like FACEBOOK to get personal information. THAT'S WHY I NEVER PUT MY BIRTHDAY ON ANY NETWORK OR ANY COMPUTER SYSTEM NO MATTER WHAT.

5. attackers take advantage of the unemployed and sell them get rich quick schemes over the internet as well as charging the unemployed money for helping them file for unemployment which is a free service if you go through the respective agency in your state.

6. in general, attackers are opting more for quiet personal information stealing operations, vs. the "loud" systems shut downs and other more obnoxious hacker exploits.

7. also, attackers are becoming more and more precise with identity theft operations. they'll use your name, your pet names, and any other information they can glean off the net to develop a scam against you. for example, they may send you an email or letter with your full name on it and other personal information you wouldn't expect an attacker to have. don't fall for it! if you don't know the person whom an email or letter is coming from and it asks for more information about you, it's a scam!

well, not as short as i had hoped. there's a few more items to be covered from the source article, but these are what caught my eye. and, i don't mean to bum you out, but there are ways to seriously minimize or avoid all these problems, and i think awareness is the first step.

technorati tag(s): vulnerabilities - redtape.msnbc.com - good news - fluxlife

yoga for the homeless

2008-12-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

that's awesomeness, Jeanne! glad to hear people
are bringing spiritual support to part of the
homeless population. great to see others
working with the homeless as well.

the fluxlife blog did a gifts for the homeless
drive on christmas eve.

have a grand and ever expansive new year!

Namaste'

-steve @ fluxlife

(if Jeanne approves this comment, you'll be able to see it at the Yoga Journal Blog as well). --- > update: looks like Jeanne just quit. so i don't forsee the comment showing up. :(-better luck next year!

technorati tag(s): yoga for the homeless - Yoga Journal - fluxlife

and now for some amazingly good news! (3 items)

2008-12-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

item 1

Blog 'miracle' saves Christmas for hard-luck family - CNN

"In the last 12 years or so that I have been “online”, I am still awed by the power of the internet to impact the world in a positive way."
-- blogger Moses Kemibaro

happy sunday my peeps!, and now for the good news:
as a family was about to loose their home, a friend blogged them back to financial stability, allowing them to keep their house, and then some! yeah, this story rocks! all you bloggers out there, myself included: keep this story in mind. you never know how much good you can do with the power of blogging! :)
read the CNN story here:
Blog 'miracle' saves Christmas for hard-luck family

item 2
for more good news (involving fluxlife activities),
check this out if you haven't already:
3 Elves In San Francisco Give Gifts To The Homeless On X-Mas Eve

item 3
while speaking with a good friend over the phone last night, she revealed this to me: The HAPPIEST Person In The World :

Matthieu Ricard

music vids: 1. pixies: "here comes your man", 2. massive attack: "teardrop"

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Blog Miracle Saves Christmas - CNN - moseskemibaro.com - the homeless - Matthieu Ricard - fluxlife -

fluxlife saturday hot news links

2008-12-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

we serve 'em up hot as they hit our screens. that's right: it's saturday hot links! :D i know you're hungry, so grab yourself a plate, and a hot link or two:

eye opener/rude awakening of the day:
Israeli Gaza Strike Kills More Than 225
"— the highest one-day toll in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades." -NYTimes

double take of the day:
City of Immigrants Fills Jail Cells With Its Own
okay, that's a way too long article. basically, they're pulling people off the streets who have no papers (suspected illegal immigrants) and putting them in jail without due process. the city of Central Falls has a financial incentive from the Federal Gov. to lock as many people up as possible. as a result, there is the appearance that people are just disappearing in this town. saying that this is a very bad situation is quite an understatement. and then of course, there are immigrants jailing immigrants which is the coup de gra'ce.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): Israel and Hamas - Central Falls, Rhode Island - Barack-hard abs - huffingtonpost.com - CNN.com - fluxlife -

happy friday!

2008-12-26T00:02:00.000-08:00

i like the fluxlife "happy friday!" post. i can just leave this post as a greeting, giving more time for you to check out the previous 2 posts below (two of my favs this week)! you gotta check out the gift giving to the homeless that we did, & the xmas card! both of those posts rock!
random entertainment (1st vid is 10min., 2nd vid 53sec.,picks up where 1st vid left off):
technorati tag(s): happy friday! - fluxlife - Kathy - Bonnie -

3 San Francisco ElvesGive Gifts To The Homeless On X-Mas Eve

2008-12-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

" Homeless man with the Christmas spirit"
Photo courtesy of Google Images

itcanbe (from the fluxlife blog), along with two other close friends, gave out gifts to the homeless on the streets of San Francisco last night. They started out at Kristin's apartment filling the gift boxes and then wrapping them. Liz did an amazing wrapping job replete with fancy ribbon work that would have made Martha Stewart jealous! itcanbe said: "Those gift boxes with their suhweet wrapping paper, and candy canes tied into the ribbons looked bad a*s!"

It was all Kristin's idea. She got the inspiration when she saw a homeless person walking down the street with a Santa hat on. She thought: 'He's homeless and he's got the Christmas spirit.' She was amazed by how someone so down on their luck could still be positive. She further pondered: 'What does it mean to be homeless and still have the Christmas spirit? If he's homeless yet still has a positive attitude, how can I make a positive contribution?'

She then started talking about it with friends, getting support and ideas. One of her friends gave her the idea to get supplies from an army surplus store. Things like warm clothing, hats, gloves, and hand warmers. Kristin went to the Acme Surplus Store for these items. The store was very kind and they donated a lot of the items. The fluxlife blog would like to thank the Acme Surplus Store for their generous contributions! Also in the gift packs were food, snacks, christmas candies, candy canes, toiletries, chap stick, and other sundries.

It was rainy, cold, and dark out. So, it was a little more challenging to find homeless people out on the streets. Even with the bad weather and night time conditions, we carried on and found recipients to give to.

One of the most touching moments was when Kristin gave a gift package to a homeless man going through the garbage. She handed the gift box and clothing to him, and mentioned there was food in the box, and he said: "Really?" Once he knew that he had food, he no longer had to look through the garbage can. The homeless man thanked her profusely and then he set out on his way with his bicycle.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): the homeless - fluxlife -

christmas card of ultimate cuteness

2008-12-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

i just received this in the mail yesterday. the cuteness of the card is killing me, and i love the 3-D action! these are the card - toon versions of me, our roommate, and my brother. this so rocks! this card made my holiday.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL, from the fluxlife blog ! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): christmas cards - fluxlife -

Don't They Know It's Christmas? - portfolio.com

2008-12-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

fluxlife's x-mas shopping advice: buy your most expensive items after Christmas, you'll save more than you ever have in the past.

here's why: watch in January for some stores to file for bankruptcy

wow. i feel badly for the stores, but then again bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean closure. so i guess a lot of stores will still exist, but many of them will probably have to get rid of a lot of inventory due to bankruptcy terms and poor Christmas sales. that's where the consumer fits in. we help them move that inventory fast after the holidays in exchange for super low prices.

(click image to enlarge)

fluxlife technorati tag(s): after christmas sales - retail bankruptcy - fluxlife

Keep an open mind on national health care - The PA Inquirer

2008-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

this is an interesting article from an American writer living in London. Ashley Sayeau, the author of the article, makes some great points about the advantages to a national healthcare system. towards the end of the article, she mentions things like keeping your healthcare even after your job ends, being able to go to school or write that novel you've always wanted to, and still have healthcare service.

here's the link: The British model proves it's not as scary as feared.

here's something funny / strange from the fluxlife blogroll:
MDMA (ecstasy) and loud music affects rat sex life (from boingboing.net)

what else have i seen that's pretty cool?:
The Rise of The Four Day Work Week

fluxlife technorati tag(s): national healthcare - fluxlife - ecstasy - workplace

Grid to Go - portfolio.com

2008-12-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

one more reason to start relocating coal workers to wind, solar, and smart grid work and away from dirty environment killing coal:

The electric grid may be able to handle... way more (wind and solar power) than previously thought.

fluxlife technorati tag(s): wind and solar energy - fluxlife -

happy friday!

2008-12-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

i've got no time to post right now. i'm on the run. not from the law or anything like that (haha). just super busy today. check out the comments on yesterday's post and add yours to it if you like. pretty good comments, pretty interesting. and/or, leave a random comment on this happy friday!/no real topic post! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s): fluxlife - happy friday! -

clean coal: the oxymoron (8)

2008-12-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

(topic continued from previous post)
(click image to go to thisisreality.org)

fluxlife was going to end this series at (7) posts. we have found an article that was released today that keeps this series going for one more day.

here's the link:
Increased Mercury Counts in Birds and Seafood due to Coal Fired Plants

here is some information about Acid Rain that is largely caused by the coal industry as well:
Acid Rain Is Largely Caused by Coal Burning Power Plants

fluxlife technorati tag(s):thisisreality.org - Mercury Poisoning - Acid Rain - fluxlife -
Brian Hardwick -

clean coal: the oxymoron (7)

2008-12-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

(topic continued from previous post)
(click image to go to thisisreality.org)

off topic, but extremely important link to a news realease today
(the chances that this news release affects you as you read this is about 3 in 4):

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal passwords.

(they recommend switching to Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Opera for your browser.
I recommend Mozilla Firefox).

tag: Internet Explorer current vulnerabilities

off topic, but interesting links to the $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme Update today:
S.E.C.: Our Bad

Hey Ponzi: What’s Your Exit Strategy, Exactly?

Entertain yourself with this link: http://www.sockandawe.com

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
clean coal: the oxymoron - thisisreality.org - fluxlife - $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme - Internet Explorer current vulnerabilities - Internet Explorer

clean coal: the oxymoron (6)

2008-12-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

(topic continued from previous post)
(click image to go to thisisreality.org)

fluxlife thought of the day:

"when things are allowed to occur naturally in abundance and spaciousness, the beauty and the form of these things/beings arises in the most surprisingly elegant and beneficial ways."

this idea popped into my head, when upon awakening, i was surprised to see one of my cats resting and stretched out so luxuriously high atop a loft : in an almost yogic posture. i was quite amazed.

at first i thought this was off topic, but then i realized that the fluxlife thought of the day can be applied to how we deal with coal, and energy in general.

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
clean coal: the oxymoron - thisisreality.org - fluxlife thought of the day - fluxlife - Brian Hardwick

fluxlife sub-thought of the day:
"i like to be concise with my words: it gives me more time to listen."

clean coal: the oxymoron (5)

2008-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

breaking news news break:

an interesting headline i caught today:
Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Becomes a Folk Hero

Bush is reluctant to kiss the shoes of Iraqi journalist:

end breaking news.

back to clean coal: the oxymoron (5)

(topic continued from previous post)
(click image above to go to thisisreality.org)

Obama unveils energy team today at 2PM Pacific Time, live on CNBC, FOX NEWS, and other channels.

Obama started off the speech by saying that the economy and national security are tied into one thing: energy.

i'm waiting to hear whether or not anyone talks about "clean coal" (the oxymoron)...

nope. didn't think so, but just happened to catch the press conference.

the big question at the news conference was: did Rahm Emanuel have inappropriate contact with the Illinois government? i won't comment on that here, but that turned out to be the big concern of one of the press at the unveiling of the energy team today. the question, being the last one Obama took, overshadowed the whole press conference to a large degree. too bad that press guy couldn't stick with the topic at hand. maybe he would have asked: "isn't clean coal an oxymoron?" maybe not. but it would have been interesting if it was asked.

gotta go for now. i'll report back later if i have anything further today.

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
thisisreality.org - Obama unveils energy team - fluxlife - clean coal: the oxymoron - coal - Brian Hardwick

clean coal: the oxymoron (4)

2008-12-14T15:08:00.001-08:00

(topic continued from previous post)
(click image above to go to thisisreality.org)

i was being nosy about how Chevron views the coal industry. they have the above graph on their energy page (seeing as they have a huge futuristic campus/headquarters right across the bridge from me, i thought i'd check 'em out).

(click images to enlarge)

just to be clear, the graph is not Chevron's outlook for 2030, it's the statistics arm of the Department of Energy, called the Energy Information Administration. this is their projection. so, if fluxlife, thisisreality.org, and any other interested parties have anything to do with it, we'll have that coal number at 0%, where it should be.

after scanning Chevron's overview of their energy endeavors and outlooks, i found their coal page. one of the interesting points here is the projection that the U.S. has 300 years of coal suppy left. well, if we continue the devastation of our air through coal burning, and the davastation of our land and water through MTR (MountainTop Removal mining) involved in coal harvesting, we probably won't be around as a species by the time we use up the existing coal suppy.

another interesting point i garnered from the Chevron coal page, was that there are at least two other primary coal related industries that mine variations of the coal compound, thereby increasing the incidence of MTR, for not just coal, but low sulphur coal, and calcined petroleum coke.

well, that's 'nuff said on the subject for a Sunday! see you all back here, tomorrow at fluxlife! have a great evening and an even better day tomorrow!

technorati tag(s):
clean coal: the oxymoron - thisisreality.org - Chevron - MountainTop Removal mining - fluxlife - coal - Brian Hardwick -

clean coal: the oxymoron (3)

2008-12-12T12:27:00.000-08:00

(topic continued from yesterday's post)

(click image to go to site)

i don't have much time today, but what i want to do is start identifying more of the players involved with thisisreality.org, and other media contacts. whether or not it's trivial, i want to know who the actor is in the thisisreality.org commercial. who is he?

i also want to put together a proposal of additional information to submit to the thisisreality.org project regarding MTR (Mountain Top Removal) involved in coal harvesting. i may consider recruiting additional interested team members for the effort.

probably won't get to it all today, more so just starting to lay out strategy for implementation.

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
thisisreality.org - fluxlife - mountain top removal - Brian Hardwick

clean coal: the oxymoron continues (2)

2008-12-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

(topic continued from yesterday's post)

(click image to go to site)

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC last night:

wow. i've just gotten some more info. on the topic.

excerpt from thisisreality.org:
"The Reality Coalition is a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters, and tells the truth about coal today — it isn't clean. We are challenging the coal industry to come clean — in its advertising and in its operations. You can learn more about the reality of "clean" coal here or take action and
help stop misleading coal campaigns."

According to Brian Hardwick, the spokesperson for thisisreality.org, the campaign just launched last Thursday, about a week ago.

while watching the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC last night, by coincidence/synchronicity with yesterday's fluxlife post, Rachel was interviewing Brian Hardwick.

Rachel Maddow stated that Obama still had clean coal on his alternative energy list, and asked Brian what he thought of that.
Surprisingly, in one of his statements, Brian Hardwick said that if it was possible to remove the pollution from the process of coal burning to create electricity, he would be all for it.

Author and publisher, Tracy Falbe, brought up the point in yesterday's comments at fluxlife, that even if the pollution from coal burning is removed, we still have the environmental devastation of our forests and mountains due to mountain top removal when coal is harvested. a great site regarding mountain top removal, recommended by Tracy, is: ilovemountains.org

P.S. we'll mainain this topic at fluxlife for about another week. so feel free to comment on any of these posts regarding: "clean coal", we'll be checking all the posts under this topic daily. Thanks to all the AWESOME fluxlife readers and commenters !!!, and Happy Holidays to all !!! :D

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
thisisreality.org - fluxlife - Tracy Falbe - Rachel Maddow - Brian Hardwick

clean coal: today's oxymoron (1)

2008-12-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

(click image to go to site)

i have to admit, during the presidential election campaigns, every time Obama or McCain said: "clean coal", i thought: "wow, how'd they do that?" after awhile i didn't question it anymore. today, i'm thinking: "oxymoron."

i'll tell you what: "the thisisreality.org is all over the place!" (at least in my little window of the world). ;) even though they're a bit heavy on saturation marketing for me, today i'll take a look at this coalition and what they're up to.

i've gotta go right now, so i'll continue this conversation later. meanwhile, check out the site. the commercial spot is actually slightly more entertaining on the site vs. t.v. for some reason. ...and at first, the little flying canary after the commercial spot is kinda cool, until it keeps hurting itself by flying into the next 3-D wall of text providing the next fun fact about the myths of clean coal. poor little flash animation canary! :-(

P.S. it's not too late to call in 'gay' or leave work 'gay' in case you forgot.

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
thisisreality.org - fluxlife - call in 'gay' - Brian Hardwick

international anti-corruption day

2008-12-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

on october 31, 2003 the UN designated december 9 as international anti-corruption day.

that's today. who knew?

this is also the 100th fluxlife blog post !!!

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
international anti-corruption day - fluxlife

The Invitation

2008-12-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Call in 'gay' to work this Wed. 12/10/08

Military Plane Crash in San Diego

Tribune filing for bankruptcy
(and so will a lot of the newspapers in the U.S.)

for whatever reason, nothing in the news or current status of government seems to be compelling enough for me to write about today. although, i did feel the need to throw some links to some of today's news stories, above.

this being the case for today, i'll reprint what i think is a really great poem:

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
and if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me to know
where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

—Oriah Mountain Dreamer

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
The Invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer - fluxlife

San Francisco celebrates the 75th anniversary of the 21st Amendment

2008-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

at 2:31 pm on this day in 1933, San Francisco had gotten word that the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had passed, thereby ending The Prohibition.

trucks of booze rolled up to the mayors office in celebration.

San Francisco plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition in similar fashion today at 3:30pm.

"The 21st Amendment" a San Francisco restaurant and brew pub will sponsor a parade running from The Ferry Building along Market Street, down to their establishment on 2nd Street near The AT+T Ballpark.

what's your town/city doing to celebrate the passing of the 21st amendment today? or, what will you do today to celebrate?

fluxlife sez: "please drink responsibly, take a cab."

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
San Francisco 21st Amendment Celebration - fluxlife

World Must Counter Asteroid Threat - BBC NEWS

2008-12-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

when fluxlife saw this in the BBC headlines, we didn't believe it. sounds like one of those sci-fi movies with bad acting and a predictable plot. although, i have to admit, i've seen a few of those (not just one - uh, kind of a fan actually - hehe).

then, as i read further, i realized: "these space geeks are serious, holy shiite muslim!" i thought: "we've got an impending asteroid collision here people! this is serious!" as i read further it turns out that the last asteroid landed on earth, not quite a collision. it was a big bad crash for sure, but it's not like i imagined it: with an asteroid big enough to glance off of the earth as it travels through space, thereby taking a piece of the earth with it. no, not like that.

i mean, there's still some concern. they say the next big one could hit in less than 20 years. but, it's not like you have to go hide in a cave right now. even if the next big one hits, there's a good chance it will be in an uninhabited area like the last one. of course, if it turns out that it's heading for your city or town, i've just given you more than ample time to get ready to high tail it out of there should NASA give you a call to evacuate within the next 20 years.

anyway, for you space geeks out there, (or any other interested parties)
here's the link to the article: World 'must tackle space threat'

for more great astronomy info. from
the best astronomy blog on the net, check out: NiteSkyGirl !

fluxlife technorati tag(s)
asteroid threat - fluxlife

2008 State Of The City SF, CA

2008-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

2008 State Of The City
fluxlife technorati tag(s):
2008 State Of The City - fluxlife

what is fluxlife?

2008-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

(click/roll cursor over img's to enlarge)

every so often, we here at fluxife like to discuss the question: "what is fluxlife?", or "define fluxlife." seeing as our 100th post is around the corner, we think it is appropriate to ask and exlplore the question yet again.

Google Glossary: define:Flux

see also:
the fluxlife blog's very 1st Google Blogger post!: "define fluxlife"

we actually started out on Wordpress.com and moved over to Google Blogger a day later. at the time, it was unclear as to how to place advertisements on Wordpress.com, and Wordpress.com did not readily offer access to the Page Layout. nor was there access to the HTML/CSS blog template. without immediately clear access to these capabilities on Wordpress.com, we moved over to Google Blogger where all of these things are readily accessible from the gitgo.

what is fluxlife?
fluxlife technorati tag(s):
what is fluxlife? - define fluxlife - fluxlife

30th Anniversary of Milk and Moscone's Deaths in San Francisco

2008-11-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of SF Supervisor Harvey Milk's and SF Mayor's George Moscone's deaths. Today and tonight, San Francisco conducted a memorial beginning at San Francisco City Hall and ending up in The Castro. For more details, check out the links below:

wikipedia.org/HarveyMilk

abclocal.go.com

I caught some footage for fluxlife. So far, we're all using our macbooks on photobooth for filming, so you get our famous backwards footage below:

The 7pm Harvey Milk Movie, "MILK", was sold out on opening night; tonight at the Castro Theatre. Before I got there, there was a line from the theatre on Castro Street down to 18th, and around the corner down 18th for quite a ways. I don't know how they fit everybody in there!?

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
Harvey Milk - George Moscone - fluxlife

what is thanksgiving?

2008-11-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

here are some links to some facts and opinions:
rwor.org | history.com brianwillson.com bermudaradical.blogspot.com jadedhippy.blogspot.com

what is thanksgiving? fluxlife sez: "it's a holiday that has twisted origins that few people understand. this is not problem with the more benign holidays like x-mas, where i'm pretty sure it didn't involve Native Americans being murdered. but to celebrate thanksgiving in complete ignorance of the Native American mass murders connected with it is a problem. i propose that we should change thanksgiving to: "DAY OF MOURNING", and then add a new holiday to be celebrated one week after "DAY OF MOURNING", and call it "HARVEST OF GRATITUDE." make it a week long for good measure, and dedicate it to everyone involved in the food supply chain from agriculture, farmers markets, groceries, restaurants and all food service, as well as every individual at the end of the food supply chain (that means anyone that eats) :0 :D-furthermore, provisions should be made so that all the workers in the food supply chain, can be off for the week!"

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
what is thanksgiving? - fluxlife - harvest of gratitude - jadedhippy.blogspot.com
- day of mourning

at least 80 people killed and 250 wounded in Mumbai (Bombay)

2008-11-26T16:37:00.000-08:00

"this appears to be one of the largest coordinated terrorist attacks on Mumbai with at least 11 different points in the city being attacked." -fluxlife

Google Map of the attacks (to navigate the Google Map: click on list of links to left of the Google Map when you get to the page).

WIRED.com article has twitter sources for up to the minute updates. also in the WIRED article are other resources such as the Google Map as fluxlife has above, YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, and more.

Reuters - Nov 26 - Scores are dead in a series of shootings in India's financial capital.
The attackers struck two luxury hotels, the Taj and Oberoi. CNN/IBN reports some Westerners were being held hostage at the Taj.
Fred Katayama reports.

fluxlife technorati tag(s):
80 killed in Mumbai - fluxlife

antio'quia (an-tee-0-kee-ah) plays a suhweeeet show

2008-11-23T01:08:00.001-08:00

made it to antio'quia's nov 22nd 2008 show at Bolly Hood. after fluxlife caught their YouTube video on myspace, i had to check out a live show. back on election night at the 19th & Valencia street party for Obama, i met one of the band members and his girlfriend.

i wrote a small bit about it here:
PARTY! San Francisco! 'Cause OBAMA Said So!!!

find a good introduction to the band here:
http://www.myspace.com/antioquiaband
just scroll down until you see their bio.

antio'quia's nov 22 show at Bolly Hood was awesome! when i walked in, some pleasantly mind-bending tripadelic music was making me feel comfortably melty. very nice.

soon after that, the band stepped away from the stage area and moved closer to the audience. they changed out their intsruments for various types of drums and other percussion instruments..i have to say: "i do love me some cow bell!" (damn, i do love that cow bell in this band. it sounds particularly great when they play it)! things definitely got tribal at the show. amazing drum playing, very intense and super duper cool! i love it! you've gotta see this band live if you haven't already! you owe yourself the treat!

the music really moves you, and everyone in the band, and connected to the band are amazing and great people! lots of fun, not to be missed!

their next show is Dec 3rd 2008 at The Red Devil Lounge here in SF. don't miss it!

technorati tag(s):
antioquia sf - fluxlife

factcheck.org update & Obama's weekly address

2008-11-22T15:54:00.000-08:00

the fluxlife blog appreciates the work of factcheck.org and is happy to post their most recent update, as well as Obama's weekly address:

.

technorati tag(s):
factcheck.org - fluxlife - Obama's weekly address

Rangzen (Tibetan Independence Movement)

2008-11-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

rangzen.com (International Tibet Independence Movement)

NYTimes article: At Exile Meeting, Tibetans Debate Independence

in keeping with the Buddhist "middle way", His Holiness, The Dalai Lama has striven toward achieving greater autonomy under the Chinese government.

as this has failed over decades of talks between the Tibetans and the Chinese, a new movement amongst the Tibetans is forming towards independence, called "Rangzen."

"i think this "Rangzen" can work, and i think that any interested party here in the U.S., and the world at large, should at least look into it. if one finds a belief that "Rangzen" is viable, then i believe that individual should look to ways to support it." -fluxlife

technorati tag(s):
Dalai Lama - rangzen.com - Tibet - fluxlife - China - Rangzen

Zeitgeist: The Movie

2008-11-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

this movie was recommended to me yesterday. after a viewing, it definitely merits a posting on fluxlife today. there are shorter chapters of the movie i could have embedded here, but i went for a YouTube copy of the full movie below.

a definition of the word Zeitgeist

"Zeitgeist: The Movie" site:
http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

it is a long one, just over two hours; but, like the movie,
"Money As Debt", it is rather intriguing and it does open a lot of doors. some of "Zeitgeist: The Movie" I find a bit incredulous, but most of it I'm confident that I could find verifiable supporting evidence to make a solid case that this movie is a fairly close reflection of our current reality and the history behind it.

"Zeitgeist: The Movie" did miss on the prediction that we'd all be carrying federal i.d. cards by May 2008. so, I don't know what happened there.

overall, it's definitely worth a look. it's interesting enough that i may do some more posts about it in the near future.

international banking news: McKillop takes responsibility for RBS plight

technorati tag(s):
Zeitgeist: The Movie - Money As Debt - fluxlife

ACLU challenges Prop 8

2008-11-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

this is a great link showing an example of a well formed legal action filed against Prop 8:

ACLU Writ Petition Challenging Prop 8

this link was plucked out of the comments section on the original fluxlife post entitled:

Gay Rights Protest San Francisco Fri Nov 7 2008

one of the salient points in the ACLU overview of their writ petition
(see also: another definition of a writ)

("...WRIT OF MANDATE AND REQUEST FOR IMMEDIATE..."), points to the fact that this legal action that resulted in Prop 8, did not go through the proper channels. a legislative piece of material that affects the core function of the CA state constitution should be evaluated by the CA state legislature before it is voted upon. Therefore, it should not have been put up as a simple referendum or proposition for the people to vote upon with a relatively limited amount of time to review an involved legal document requiring a degree of legal knowledge, additional legal counsel, and more, before being able to make an informed decision upon.

not to mention, Prop 8 affects the core function of
"The Supreme Law of The Land", The U.S. Constitution. therefore, Prop 8 should have been evaluated by the legislature on the federal level as well as the Supreme Court (for opinion at least), the commonwealth of America at large, in addition to the CA state legislature, CA state supreme court, and the CA commonwealth.

the Mormons had some pretty slick lawyers and media experts to be able to slide this piece of work past all the proper legal channels, and subvert everyone's civil rights at the same time! i don't condone what was done by crediting the Mormon legal staff, but this is an example of America caught sleeping at the wheel, myself included. that, and how powerful television commercials can be in shaping some people's thoughts. lots of Mormon trickery, and no treat for civil rights, and the people dually harmed.

the consolation: Prop 8 will be brought down, and hard. The Mormons stand to lose their church's tax exempt status in this, not to mention their gaining a reputation in the history of our nation as attempting to subvert America's civil rights and equality for ALL, the very core principles our country is built upon.

technorati tag(s):
ACLU - fluxlife - Prop 8 - civil rights

The Colbert Report on Prop 8 and an Interview with Dan Savage

2008-11-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

this humorous break is brought to you by Comedy Central, The Jaded Hippy, and fluxlife. enjoy!

surprisingly, Colbert actually broadened and informed the debate a bit, in between humorous asides, and comments bordering on poor taste. the interview with Dan Savage is really quite humerous, and he throws some nice zingers at Colbert. most of the guests i see on the show don't have the wit that Dan has to get sassy back at Stephen. after a walk through wikipedia i noticed that the two have similar performance based and writing backgrounds. this may lend to a camaraderie/chemistry for the two that works well in these interviews.

technorati tag(s):
comedycentral.com - The Colbert Report - jadedhippy.blogspot.com - Dan Savage - fluxlife

Your Weekly Address from the President-Elect

2008-11-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

admittedly, dayz late on this one (lot o' prop 8 activity for fluxlife this weekend, in the field as well as happily fielding comments , and more comments on our blog). just had to see the vid, though. we kept hearing about the weekly addresses that Obama will be doing, and hadn't viewed one yet.

fluxlife sez: "how 'bout Hillary for secretary of state"?

is this a position she's eminently qualified for, or is Obama merely paying homage to Hillary by offering her one of the highest positions in the government as well as the line of succession?

the first question is: "does Hillary really want this position anyway?"

the next question is: "will Hillary pass the back ground checks possibly marred by Bill?"

here's a couple of good articles to check out: SF Gate & guardian.co.uk

technorati tag(s):
weekly address - fluxlife - secretary of state - Obama - Hillary - Bill Clinton - guardian.co.uk

Prop 8 Rally San Francisco Sat Nov 15 2008

2008-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

roll over FTH8 button 4 updates

click photo to see flickr video

"NOT THE MOST STYLISH VLOGGING. JUST RAW ON THE SPOT FOOTAGE THAT SAYS WE WERE THERE AS IT WAS HAPPENING!" --fluxlife

wow. the fluxlife crew made it to the rally. it's a beautiful 80F super sunny day here at the SF city hall. we've got a spot near the front at the steps of city hall.
just finished listening to Marc Leno give a speech.

couldn't get Carol Migden (technical problems). sounds like she wants to run for governor.

although the macbook has it's limits for filming (backwards signs is one of them), we're still here, and we're getting what footage we can. blog posting and filming is kinda raw, but that's how it goes with blogging and vlogging on the spot as things are happening. lots of great speakers. once again, like last friday's sf march, there are thousands here for the cause. it's great to see this kind of support! go us!, go human race! yes we will!

the fluxlife crew got up to the front (miraculous!-for some reason the cops and crowd control people didn't stop us-they're pulling aside other people though-maybe we look driven and serious? hahaha!), but what we didn't think of: is how are we going to get out? it's so jam-packed here at the SF Civic Center Park.

A partial speakers list:

Senator Carole Migden
Senator-Elect Mark Leno
Assembly Member-Elect Tom Ammiano
Amos Brown
Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis; Plaintiffs in the California marriage case
Mark Oliver and Clark Pingree; Representing “Mormons for Marriage”
Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon
Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake (list from:The SF Citizen)

.

.

see other fluxlife related posts:

prop 8

gay rights protest marchers SF Fri. Nov 7 2008

fluxlife special thanks goes out to:
- Malena and Camilla who paid for the taxi
- James, Jenna, and Sarah from the Intl. Socialist Organization
- Geoff (pursuitofequality.com)
- jointheimpact.com and everyone connected to the Prop 8 National Rally and the fight for Civil Rights!

technorati tag(s):
prop 8 rally - fluxlife - jointheimpact.com - civil rights - pursuitofequality.com

.

Proposition 8

2008-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

below is an excerpt from a fluxlife email received on 11/11 :

"In case you haven't seen this yet...
(We're all flooded with email. This one seems strategic, though.)
Here's the link: http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com

Also, here's a link to the national Prop 8 protest on Nov. 15: http://jointheimpact.com

Here's the main gist of the "Mormons Stole Our Rights" site:

"Strip the Mormon church of its tax-exempt status. If court challenges don't reverse Prop 8, community leaders are recommending a new proposition next year. If that happens, then preventing churches from bankrolling the opposition is key. A church (especially the Mormon church, which financed 70% of the Yes on 8 campaign) cannot claim tax-exempt status "if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation."

a special thanks for this info. goes out to:
A Former Presidential Candidate

i would also like to thank The Jaded Hippy for first bringing
my attention to jointheimpact.com

check out updates for The Jaded Hippy in the fluxlife blog roll.

this sat. 11/15 at 10:30am the SF, CA jointheimpact.com
rally will take place near the san francisco city hall
at the civic center park.

for the latest bloggin'/vloggin' at the SF rally go to:
Proposition 8 Rally San Francisco Nov 15 2008

see related post with fluxlife footage of SF protest marchers from Nov 7 2008:
gay marriage rights protest san francisco nov 2008

technorati tag(s):
proposition 8 - jointheimpact.com - fluxlife - mormonsstoleourrights.com - jadedhippy.blogspot.com

goto fluxlife frontpage

Osama bin Hidin'

2008-11-13T02:37:00.000-08:00

fluxlife.blogspot.com invited me to blog over here. So, I decided to post for fluxlife today; and then, all of a sudden, the CIA knows where bin Laden is. Such an act, what an act! maybe they're having tea with him and smoking some fine Cuban cigars together too! Are we gonna let the CIA get the better of us?! I say NO! I challenge any of you out there to invite bin Laden over for a meal, then snare him while he's drunk, aha! I asked the boss at fluxlife, and he said he'd foot the bill! We'll get this bin Laden way before those prissy CIA boys do! - osama bin laden - fluxlife - fluxlife.blogspot.com - Osama bin Hidin'- 911 ripple effect -