T-M-I from T-I-M

Why do homeless people keep living?

I've been thinking lately about why homeless people continue to live.  To be clear, I'm not talking about someone who is perhaps down on their luck, maybe even for a few years.  In that case, I guess there is some clear hope that he or she can get back to it.

I'm wondering about the people who go say 5+ years and seem to either go deeper into the hole or stay where they are with no upturn in site.  I've seen people like this around my neighborhood, there never seems to be hope.  Somehow, they wake up every morning with nothing and often nobody but they keep going.

I wonder what keeps them going.  My presumption is that they are not particularly happy and unlikely to be happy in the near future.  So, it's a life of sadness that perpetuates itself. 

There's got to be something inside that keeps them going because it appears that there is no great reward outside for them.  Who knows maybe they really are happy? (although I doubt it)

An interesting possibility may be that it doesn't matter whether they are happy or sad, that life is not necessarily meant to be a vectored journey towards happiness.  That's certainly a challenging point of view and would make the issue make some level of sense.

One thing's for sure, a meaningful % of us that have something want to try to get those who don't out of it.  Then again, we don't really care do we?  If we really did, I feel like it would be solved on a larger scale than it is now.

What is it?  What keeps them going?

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

A friend of mine just tipped me to this hilarious bit of entertainment.  Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog stars Neil Patrick Harris as a developing evil-doer and a self-conscious single guy.  Nathan Fillion plays his nemesis, Captain Hammer.

Dr. H is trying to gain acceptance to the Evil League of Evil and is tasked with doing...evil.  The show is peppered with great lines (including at one point a newscaster signing off with "It's a good day to be homeless").

I saw NPH star in Rent in LA and he was terrific.  In this bit of fun, he's also great.  It's interesting how different it is.  The songs in the show are well done.

I'll be surprised if this doesn't turn into some variety of a Broadway show, if it hasn't already.  It's another example of the power of internet distribution.  It clearly doesn't "fit" very well on TV so they just did it on their own, bravo!

Would you rather be Black & Rich or White & Middle Class?

I've been wondering lately if I had my choice would I prefer wealth in exchange for being black?  So we're clear, my definition of rich for purposes of this discussion would be million dollar home paid for, lots of money in the bank and still working at a highly paid job that I could leave if I wanted to.  Middle class would be decent home mortgaged, decent amount of money in the bank with a decently paid job that I have to have.

We live in a racist society and it's hard to consider living the life of a black person who behind gay people are the most overtly discriminated against people in the world.  It would be fine, to a certain extent, if I'm in my gated community but as soon as I step out, my status would almost immediately drop it seems.

I suppose another way to consider the question would be would I rather be a middle class white or a:

1. rich Asian
2. rich Hispanic
3. rich Middle Eastern
4. rich & Jewish
5. rich & Gay

Somehow the decision in every one of those cases feels easier, even though each of the 5 are also discriminated against. 

A black friend of mine told me that every day white folks have the choice of whether they want to deal with a black folks.  A black person HAS to deal with a white person every day.  And it's not quite russian roulette, but it is a game of chance as to how a black person is treated by white folks.

I don't know if I would have the fortitude to handle being black no matter how much money I had.  I guess it would be a day by day thing. 

I know things have improved quite a bit, but if I stepped onto BART in my suit after work and everyone reached for their wallet because I stood by them, how happy could I really be?

I wonder if racism will ever totally disappear.

Movie Review: Dark Knight (DO NOT MISS IT!!!)

I went to see Dark Knight last night and it was phenomenal.  It's a Batman installment that stars Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker.

It had plenty of the cool special effects and breathtaking action scenes.  But the script was extraordinary.  I thought the way that the writing explored the inner workings of the human condition was awesome.  Often, I think, script serves as a filler between action in films like this and it's usually ok (like a porn movie to a certain extent).  This was definitely an exception.

As for the actors, I had difficulty divorcing Christian Bale from Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, but that's ok, it sort of added to the experience.

Regardless, I URGE you to go see Dark Knight to literally drink in Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.  The writing definitely helped, but his acting is other worldly.  Frankly, he makes Jack Nicholson's Joker feel amateur.

I've always known that good scripts are the key to movies.  And, I've often thought that good scripts can even overcome bad acting.  But when good scripts meet great acting, it's explosive (like Kevin Spacey in American Beauty).

It's downright spooky that he's dead now but I couldn't help but think that he almost knew the end was near or perhaps he just lived his life that way, that's why he was so unbelievable.  He poured himself into the role and it tasted great.  He left my mouth WIDE OPEN during several scenes.

It's certainly not for kids but any adult should make the effort to check it out, it's a big screen experience unlike most others I've ever had.

The alphabet, courtesy of the 3 Stooges

I picked up my daughter from camp yesterday and she belted out an alphabet song that I recognized immediately.  The lovable 3 Stooges introduced me to it.

I used to watch old 3 Stooges re-runs on WGN when I was a kid and we only had like 25 cable stations!!!  Interestingly, I watch it now with a great deal of fondness but a realization that the bar while seemingly raised for entertainment, doesn't mean that the entertainment has gotten better.  BTW, what's up with the one dude in the class??

Book Review: Ultra Marathon Man

Ultra Marathon Man is about Dean Karnazes' life obsession with running REALLY long distances.  He seems to like to do so as a means to continue to expand our consciousness to the possibilities about what our bodies can do.  (And he's an SF man to boot!)

Interestingly, he was a heavy partier until his sister died, at which point he started to get serious about things, but not really about running.  He became sort of a "master of the universe" kind of dude and succeeded materially, but began to feel empty.

It wasn't until he started running again that he seemed to discover purpose.  And discover it he did.

He ran across the desert.  He ran 199 miles.  For me, the most unbelievable one was running the marathon that ended at the South Pole, unbelievable.

It's definitely an easy read and worth it (particularly if you are a work out fanatic).  However, at times it was a little tough to connect to as a moderate (at best) athlete.  But he does share that we all fall prey to the limitations of our mind.

One thing that I wish he would have addressed a bit more is that he finds peace and presence in pushing his body to the absolute limits.  What happens when he can't do that anymore?

At some point he'll get older and certainly he'll be able to push himself to a certain extent, but not to the limits he does now.  How will he find peace when that day comes?

Pre & Post-Coital Relationship Honesty

I was thinking the other day about how men and women treat each other pre & post coitus.

Presuming that sexual encounters end with men effervescing 99% of the time and women maybe 9% of the time, do you think that men and women have different things to talk about before and after sex? 

After commenting shortly afterwards (real or not) "That was GREAT!"  (usually real for the man, for the woman...maybe a little different).  What does a man want to talk about?

Likely not a lot.  After all, how good a conversation can you really have while sleeping?  I'm convinced that women have eltriptophan coarsing through their veins and like a pheromone it emits after sex and lulls the man to sleep.  If only the Lions and Cowboys were on TV and a few dead turkeys were around, you'd have thanksgiving.

If we are awake it's self-evident that talk about "the relationship" on either side is misleading.  Pre, most dudes will say lots of things they don't mean to get it. 

Post, unfortunately we do as well because we got it.  It's one of those very weird times in life when a man (for an ever so brief second) is NOT thinking about sex (which is probably why we all fall asleep).

MOST unfortunately what that means is that it's not wise to talk about the relationship with a man pre or post coitus.  And really is there any other time in left in life?

Before and after sex, what does a woman want to talk about?  Actually I have no idea. 
Maybe they want to talk about the relationship, don't they always??

I wish they would be TOTALLY honest.  Maybe:  "Well, chalk it up to another short lived adventure of watching someone else get what they want.  Just out of curiosity (insert man' name here) have you ever said "orgasm" with the word "give" instead of "have" in your whole life?"

Of course this is only from what I hear because I don't disappoint, OH BEHAVE!!!!

HIYO!!!

SF New Tech Big Summer Geek Out

Last night, I attended SF New Tech's Big Summer Geek Out and it was pretty darn cool.  It was engaging to actually be at a networking event that didn't feel grueling as some of them can be. 

I walked in just as the 6 companies were getting ready to present their technology.  There was a 5 minute LED clock going (thank goodness) that kept the presenters on time.  (Nothing is more likely to go over time than a CEO (often an engineer) up in front of a group talking about their baby.)

I realized pretty quickly that there were lots of engineers in the audience given the questions.  Although I have to give some love to the host who made sure us non-engineers in the audience could follow along.

Of the companies, a few companies of interest:

• snappystuff:  Allows you to list your items you wish to sell or trade on multiple services from one point.
• mydogspace:  A social networking site for dogs (and dog owners).  I thought the company was....cute, but I'm not sure if it's sustainable long term (it feels like a derivative application of web technology (like toys and pets.com) in the social networking context).  But HUGE ups for them having a trailer for the movie version of Marley and Me!
• Backblaze:  Clearest and most engaging demo of a super simple online computer back-up service.
• govit:  I like that the CEO is actually trying to do something to engage us all in politics but I told him that it's a labor of love and he's up against a lot of dynamics that will make it tough to succeed on a large scale.

I also liked that the host let anyone from the audience give a 60 second spot on things they are doing or resources they are looking for.

Bottom line, it was a fun event that reminded me how many people are out there innovating.