Here is what you all think and care about today...

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2013/04/11

I get a kick out of CNN, especially CNN "Headline" News, when they announce how they are carrying the "Trial Everyone is Talking About".   The trial du-jur is Jodi Arias.
Interesting.  For the most part, no one I know (other than CNN) is talking about it.
In the rare case it has come up, usually the person I am with asks, "Who cares?".

But this theme is constantly repeated.  The news (at least in the US) latches onto a story, and carries on with it to nauseating extent.  The latest case in NYC news  (Fox5) was the Rutgers basketball coach who was a little too rough on the players.

You would think there is enough going on in this world that would keep the news outlets buzzing with new content all the time.  And there probably is.  But the issue is, it is filtered to a target audience that primarily incorporates people who would actually watch Honey Booboo and The Jersey Shore regularly.
(Watching the parodies of these on South Park was about the most I could tolerate of these shows.)

But back to my point.  The "news" media has become a stream of filtered content, designed to influence the thoughts of the watchers as to what is important in the world.  And I find, for the most part, much of it doesn't really matter much.  And the few minutes of the hour broadcast that has any relevance (apart from the traffic and weather) is usually presented with a particular political or emotional bias.

Why do so many people care what "celebrities" are up to?

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2013/04/04

I guess that's what makes them celebrities.  The people who don't have much of a life of their own, live through the lives of others.  Too bad all the attention makes the celebrity life fail.

I guess they are the modern form of the Greek Tragedy.

Being the non-conformist, I also have trouble understanding fan mentality.  Ya, I route for the Yankees, if I happen to be watching a game.  But I am nowhere near a fanaddict.

Disclaimers

For me, I get turned right off when I hear some guy rambling on at 1,000 words/min at the end of a radio car dealer commercial (BTW, I don't like car dealers anyhow).  It is even worse when I hear the quick ramblings at the beginning of the commercial, followed by some booming voice, shouting at me to 'get in on this deal'.
The TV commercials, don't typically have the booming voice, but there is an awful lot of small type which flashes on for an insufficient amount of time to read it all (especially if you are a slow reader like myself).

Non Sequitur just had a nice week of comics focused around disclaimers.  There really should be some law forcing the disclaimer to be more upfront (that is, less in the background).

Apparently, the government has been able to figure out how to write such a law, because the drug commercials certainly don't hide their disclaimers.  And you know they would, if they could. ("Can cause irritable bowls, nose bleeds, and sometimes death."  Now THAT is quite a disclaimer.)

Giving healthcare control to the states

I will admit, I am not fully aware of how #Obamacare is effecting my healthcare coverage.
I have been fortunate enough not to have to worry too much about it, as I have worked for companies large enough to provide the coverage for me, and I am just effected by the premium price.  So when it comes to the issues I keep hearing... who decides what procedures I can have, getting coverage with pre-existing conditions, the requirement to have healthcare... well, these have no effect on me... at the moment.
But if #Romney has his way, it could effect me in the future.  Because I live in NY (a blue state) but work for a company based in AZ (a red state).  So when Romney repeals Obamacare and gives it to the states to deal with, which state am I subject to?

Where does the time go?

For the 1 person who reads my blog (Hi M), I know you have been wondering when I would spew out something new.
I am amazed at all the people who can find the time to spew their thoughts on a regular basis into blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.
I am at my computer for most of the day, yet have to make a real effort to spend a few minutes typing some thoughts in here.

I really want to write a piece about "out of context".  The Republican convention really got me thinking about that one, when they theme an entire session around "We Built It".  This theme came from a snippet of a speech by President Obama, in which the Republican machine took part of what he was talking about out of the speech's context.  Thus totally altering the original message of the speech.
I think I could do a nice piece about gun control, because I know that the bit about "the right to bear arms" is taken out of the full context it has in the constitution... however, I need to actually read the amendment to make sure I get my facts straight.

Ah well, where did the time go... I still have to finish my expense report, eat dinner, and get ready for a scout pack meeting, all in the next 90 mins.

l8r

Having to pay for all the Sports channels on Cable

I don't have time to fill this in yet.  But just wanted to mark it as something that I really need to rant about.

I also hate the $3/month rental on the stupid remote.

OK, so I figured I'd better fill this one in.

My beef here is that I found out that more than half my cable bill goes to paying for the Sports channels.
Now, there has to be at least 20 of them.  And I only watch one, occasionally, the Yankee network (YES). And I only watch it because they no longer show games on broadcast TV, and my wife gets into the games once in a while (so I watch along).
Since Sports networks are so much, why aren't they in a separate package, like the movie channels.  That way, I can get cable without having to fund all the sports nuts.
I am sure all the sports nuts are saying, "well then, why do we have to pay for all the non-sports channels, like History and SciFi.", and they would be right.

What we have in the cable TV world is socialism!

Instead of just paying for the channels I want, I have to pay for all the channels.  So I have to help fund the sports channels, which cost too much for just the sports nuts to support.  So the cable company spreads the costs across everyone who wants cable.

I am looking forward to the day when the kids know how to find everything they want to watch on the internet.  Then I can just drop the cable TV.  I find that there is rarely anything I really want to watch on anyway, despite the 200 channels.  Especially since I can watch Stewart and Cobert (the only things worth watching) online.

What's up with saying mass in Latin?

I happen to be an R.C. and, being a non-conformist, there is a lot about religion that rubs me the wrong way (and some day, I might get to commenting on that).
However, I am married to someone who believes we should go to mass every Sunday, so spending an hour a week at mass keeps the peace.  Also, I do believe Christianity provides good moral lessons for the kids.

Well, back to the issue at hand...
At my parish, we have an old-styled pastor, who thinks the Vatican II Council was a travesty.  He thinks the mass should be said in Latin (with the priest facing the alter, and all that old school stuff).  And my question is, 'Why Latin?'.
The original reason why mass was said in Latin was because that is the language everyone (in the region where the church was being formalized by Emperor Constantine I) spoke.  So to say mass in Latin now does not follow the original reason.
And it is not that Jesus spoke Latin at the Last Supper.  Jesus spoke Aramaic, and most likely Hebrew (he was Jewish, and it was the Passover meal).
So the only reason to say a mass in Latin, would be to go back to the dark ages, where the priests tried to hold a some kind level of mysticism over the parishioners.  Speaking in tongues that only the anointed priests understood.

There may be some who are interested in going back to that by-gone age when religion had an air of mystery and awe.  But I think the smell of Bengay off the attendees at a Latin mass would be too much for me to handle.