Killer Whales and Words

Doing a little blogging before some reading. I've been spending far too much time on the computer lately trying to do some learning.

- Check out the latest movie reviews on the home page. We've been making the rounds of the Oscar movies. The Hurt Locker kicked some serious arse and is the best one we've seen so far. We're watching Precious in the near future.

- I can't comprehend the people that are going bonkers about the trainer that died at Sea World.

First, every party in the equation knows what they are getting into. The trainers know the risks of working with wild and dangerous animals. The crowds flock to see the shows because we want to see this interaction. Nobody is fooling anyone here.

Worse, people want the whale put to death. That bothers me on levels that I can't even comprehend. We take these animals out of the wild and then when they act like animals we should punish them? We've made them dependent on us - it isn't like we can put them where they belong.

- Did you ever notice that we all get along much better one-on-one and it isn't until you introduce a third person that things get weird? This is true almost everywhere in life. I like many of my friends - until their wives are around. I like lots of people - until they identify themselves as being part of some political party/church/union/special interest group. At that point the individuality is tossed out the window. So is free thought. How much better would the world be if we didn't have the need to feel like we belong somewhere, even though in reality it is just us giving up a little bit of who we are.

- I finally finished the George Carlin book. One thing I found really interesting is that he considered himself to be fascinated with the English language (a gift from his language). As you know, Carlin was as dirty as they come but he expressed his craft in the meaning of the words and not the words themselves. He also portrayed how stupid it was that certain words get us going in certain contexts and not others.

I recently read an article from a few years back by Walter Cronkite. He urged people to elevate their language and this would elevate yourself. Next to Carlin's lessons that statement just seems so.... hollow.

- Along the same lines, I started reading "Freakanomics" last night.

For those of you that aren't familiar with this book, the premise is that data analysis can be used to discover all kinds of truths. There are no agendas and they aren't trying to justify a position. The first example they give is the idea that added laws and policemen resulted in the huge decrease in crime in the late 90's. If you'll recall, in the mid 90's we were warned that a huge upswing in crime was about to happen and it never did. Politicians and all kinds of groups claimed responsibility for the shift. Surely the gun laws worked. Surely the added police presence was what stopped crime.

Wrong.

The downswing in crime was a result of Roe v. Wade some 18 years earlier. Fewer kids were brought in to fewer bad homes. I won't lay out the data but it was pretty clear to see. But once again, people will make their beliefs based on whatever group they belong to. The ability to think for yourself and find real answers is once again diminished.

Speaking of language, this clip is from the postgame show of the legendary Earl Weaver.