Holy abandoned blog Batman!!!

okay...okay...I know...... I promised to post more and God knows that that there are plenty enough things wrong with society to fill oodles of blog posts.


You will hear from me soon, that is a threat of monumental proportions.

Till then a little story to help re-affirm your disgust with human beings:

Female Motorcyclist left for dead by hit and run driver

Regards,

~T.A.M.

Inspiration

As you may have noticed, I have not been actively blogging as of late. I have meant to, I have even come close to logging in a few times to rant and compose a seething diatribe on the follies of my fellow man. But alas, I have not been able to do so. It is not for a lack of raw materials, nor for an increase in the moral aptitude of society in general. No it has been a combination of professional, personal and other obligations, but first and foremost a general lack of inspiration.

Inspiration is a fickle and fleeting thing in my life, it seems to abandon me at times when itwould seem most appropriate to have and in contrast overtakes me and consumes me in times where I am least able to appropriately take advantage of it.

It is funny how varying my inspirations are. Many are so simple, yet others so complex it seems almost impossible to get to the root of them and understand what drives them.

Many things have inspired me in my lifetime. Sometimes passion, sometimes pain, many times melancholy has driven me to inspiration. Most often, it is a basic realization of exactly how big our world is and how small our worries are in comparison, this understanding has helped to inspire me time and time again to achieve more, but most importantly to enjoy life more. The time we spend on this earth is too precious to invest any time worrying about things that will be long forgotten by the world around us.

Back when I was a better and more avid photographer, my inspirations would come when I least expected them. The way the sun struck the mountains while I was driving in morning traffic, the frost on the trees after cold brisk night, the sight and sound of the ocean that would have otherwise been ignored and taken for granted while on a business trip. These are the things which would snap me out of the monotony of the daily grind and force me to take notice. I would pull over the car and stare in awe as if it was the first time I had seen them, or as if they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It would always take a minute for me to realize that they were always there, and always would be, it was me who was transient and me who was so consumed by the comings and goings of my self important life that these beautiful and permanent things became invisible to me. And without fail, every time I would vow to never take these things for granted again, and also without fail, I eventually would.

So what inspired me to put text to page to day? It was the simple and honest musings of a consistent and steadfast fellow blogger and my own tendency to give others advice that I seldom heed myself.

Well, today I will listen to my own prattling and take a day for me, I may even take a few pictures along the way.

So, what will inspire you today?

~T.A.M.

To deny the facts would be illogical.

Spock: "Logic and practical information do not seem to apply here."
McCoy: "You admit that?"
Spock: "To deny the facts would be illogical, Doctor"

Everybody loves a good Star Trek reference every now and again. (OK, well maybe not everybody, but enough of us do that I'll float one out there today.)
This one struck a particular chord with me and has seemed especially prescient in the last few years.

It would seem to me that a majority of society seems perfectly content to dismiss logic and reason in favor of feelings and emotional response when it comes to making important decisions in their lives.

Now I am certainly not discounting feelings and emotions, human beings are defined and endearing because of our range of emotional response. It is the ability to feel and portray these emotions that set us apart from the majority of the animal kingdom. No, my problem is that over the years, other members of society have learned that they can use these responses to their own benefit. (Another human trait that causes me distress at times.)

Sometimes this manipulation is subtle and harmless when for example a man or woman leverages the love their partner feels for them to get material things or a new car dealer uses your excitement about a new car to keep you from thinking too much about the financial impact the purchase will have. In other cases it is more damaging and sinister, take politicians, they have made an art of whipping up people's emotions and using that energy to fuel their political agendas. In some extreme cases these politicians can use that emotion and energy to convince people to support things that if they would not normally support were they to evaluate it in a logical manner. (See: Hitler, Castro, etc)

In a perfect world we would be able to effectively balance our logical and emotional responses as appropriate to the situation.

Example 1:
You are on a second date with a beautiful young woman and as you walk her to her door she leans towards you and you respond to the fluttering in your stomach by kissing her rather than wondering if the Cioppino she had for dinner contained mussels that were under cooked and full of bacteria that could be killing her even now and may be passed on to you through an exchange of bodily fluids....wrong time for a logical response!!

Example 2:
You are involved in a discussion with a casual friend who suddenly declares that Politician X should be shot because they heard on CNN that they said they supported the killing of the Red Speckled Puff Breasted Wombat just so that some greedy company can turn the land into a ski resort. You respond by saying, I haven't heard about that, but I will do some research so that I can understand the facts before forming an opinion on the subject rather than taking my opinions from biased new sources.

Ultimately it is our emotions which define us and make us different from one another not just in looks, but a healthy does of logic applied at the right times could definitely make the world a better place to live in.
Here’s to hoping there is a little bit of Spock in all of us!

~T.A.M.

Why you frontin?

Thinking back on my youth recently, I was reminded of a phrase that was popular during the 80's.

"Why you frontin?" was/is slang for putting up a false front, or appearing to be something you are not.

The phrase itself was overused and was usually associated with followers of hip-hop culture.

Thinking more on this phrase (or perhaps over thinking as I am prone to do). I have come to the conclusion that it is in fact very insightful and is a profound observation of the culture then and perhaps more so now.

People put on fronts everyday, as a matter of fact we reward "frontin" in our culture in an almost perverse manner. For example: Actors, musicians, politicians and sports stars are the greatest perpetrators of "frontin" as we can find in modern society and we reward them handsomely for fooling us. We expect them to look, talk and act a certain way and they oblige us every step of the way. We shower them with accolades and hold them to near godlike (little g) status.

Even more curious is that "frontin" permeates down through all levels of the social spectrum. Because we value these qualities in our heroes, we emulate them in our lives. Rarely do we meet someone who is truly genuine in their demeanor. We all put on fronts, we all have a preconceived notion of how we should appear to those around us. Whether it is driven by a fear of failure, concern for how we will be perceived or a myriad of other possible fears and doubts, the fact remains that most of us modify our behavior at times to meet the expectations of those around us.

For some that modification manifests itself as a drive to always appear perfect in all the things we do, even though in many cases we are constantly second guessing whether we are capable of doing anything right. In others, it may be constant failure that has been reinforced by years of people’s expectations that we will fail. In most cases, we become the person that other people perceive us to be.

Is it good or bad that we put up fronts? Are we doing it to protect ourselves or to protect others? Every person has a different reason and many may not even be able to admit to themselves that they are doing it.

So the question I pose to you today is this:

Why you frontin?

~T.A.M.

Leadership -vs- Management

When put in a position of authority, there are usually two paths that an individual can choose to walk down:

The first path is the path of management. Management is a fine art in this day in age with a multitude of vendors hawking the latest and greatest in ways to increase the effectiveness of Managers. Most anyone with a fair amount of common sense can be taught to be a Manager with some degree of success.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 1995 Survey of Employer-provided Training (the most recent they provide!!), 10.5% of all training dollars spent by employers with more than 50 employees is spent on management training. Considering the total estimated training spend was almost $5,500,000,000, that is fairly significant.

Even with all this money being spent to develop Managers, the reality is that the best managers in the world can not hold a candle to those who walk down the other path.

Those who walk that second path are of a different breed entirely than those who walk the path of the Manager. The people walking the second path are not trained the same way one would train a Manager. These men and women are what we call Leaders. Although they may look and sometimes sound similar, they are not the same. Leaders are born with these qualities, then hone them against the stone of life. Leaders are few and far between, and once you have known a true leader, you will learn to recognize their qualities in other leaders immediately.

How to tell a Leader from a Manager:

Managers tell someone to do something then wait for results.
Leaders create a vision then inspire people to achieve results.

Managers make excuses and blame others when things go wrong.
Leaders take responsibility when things go wrong then correct the mistakes.

Managers are afraid to fail.
Leaders understand that failures occur and see failure as an opportunity to learn.

Managers avoid conflict so as not to "Rock the Boat"
Leaders understand that healthy conflict is essential for getting all the information on the table.

Managers look for consensus when making decisions.
Leaders evaluate all the information available to them and make the best decision they can based on that information.

Managers provide "coaching" to their employees.
Leaders inspire their employees by their actions.

Managers say what people want to hear.
Leaders say what needs to be said, when others are afraid to.

Managers wait for action to be taken.
Leaders take action when needed.

Managers wait for their turn to talk.
Leaders listen and respond.

Managers try, and then hope for the best.
Leaders give their best always and strive to improve upon it every time.

Managers demand respect.
Leaders command respect.

This world needs more leaders right now.

A recent example of a true leader in action:

Lt. Gen Russell Honore - (most famous recently for his "Stuck on Stupid" comments. Thanks to The Political Teen for this link)

Let's hope for the sake of our world that the qualities of real leaders continue to be a valued commodity.

~T.A.M.

Space...the Final Frontier. These are the Voyages of the Nation of Islam?

Sir Tad Babbert over at The Knights Simplar had a link to an interesting interview from a member of the new Black Panthers.

Now while the entire interview was interesting and filled with lots of wild claims, the most interesting part for me was when the discussion turned to the Nation of Islam’s leader Louis Farrakhan’s belief that there is a space craft a half a mile in diameter orbiting the Earth that was built thousands of years ago. (Folks I can't make this stuff up.) Not only that, but Mr. Farrakhan has claimed to have visited this ship on at least one occasion to receive divine revelation.

So like the good Googlite that I have become, I eagerly typed "Great Mother Wheel" into my trusty Google search bar and hungrily awaited the results. Folks I was not to be disappointed. Not only is there plenty of information about the "Great Mother Wheel" AKA "Great Mother Plane" out there, there are detailed accounts of current and prior NOI leaders discussing the origins of this phenomena.

Here are some links to some of the best ones:

The Pop Occulture Journal - Good overview of the Great Mother Wheel

BlackElectorate.com - Article defending the concept of the Mother Plane or Mother Wheel

Answers.com - (see section titled Mother Plane) History of the NOI and it's teachings

According to the cited sources the story goes even deeper, stating that the Nation of Islam is actually descended from a race of moon people that blew up the moon and split it in half, because the leader of the rebellion disliked the way the rest of the Moon people were behaving. (again I wish my imagination was creative enough to make this stuff up.) Once the Moon was split, half became what is now the Earth, and the other half spun around and all the water on that part "fell" back on to the part that became the earth. The "Mother Plane" was created by a group of Scientists descended from this original race. The scientists lived on what is now Japan and the ship is made from a form of steel that our modern science is unable to rival in strength and resilience. The best part of the whole Mother Plane is that it is a giant "Kill Whitey" machine comprised of 1500 smaller planes which each carry three bombs that are apparently white seeking only.

In all, I was intrigued by the story and further perplexed as to the intentions of the Nation of Islam and its eccentric Leader Mr. Farrakhan.

~T.A.M.

Warm Memories of a Cold War

I was ready. They definitely weren't going to catch me unaware this time. Eyes darting, staring from the clock to the Public Address System and back. Every time my teacher would look up from her desk I would hastily play at working on what was in front of me, but truth be told I was way too excited to focus on much of anything at that point. It was almost 2pm and they never went past 2pm! Any minute now.....and then it finally happened!

That sound was more exciting than any other sound an 8 year old boy could hear at that moment. The sound is hard to describe and even more difficult to forget, to this day when I hear that sound my reflexes kick in and I get the urge to run. It starts as a low wail and slowly builds to the unmistakable screeching fullness that is the Air Raid Siren. On this day I was first to the door and once we all lined up I marched us straight to our designated fallout area where I promptly sat down Indian style (because it was still ok to call it that back then), faced the wall (which was probably covered in lead based paint), and promptly tucked my head between my knees where it remained until the principal was satisfied that we were all where we needed to be in a reasonable amount of time.

As I walked towards home later that day, I picked up a stick and tried to flush out as many of those Dirty Ruskies as I could from the small but densely thicketed woods that separated my school from our neighborhood. I imagined that I single handedly turned the tide after the invaders took over our small Pennsylvania town.



Back then our enemies had a name and a face and that face was evil and dark. By the time I was 7 years old I already knew that the U.S.S.R and every man, woman, and child therein wanted nothing more than the destruction of the U.S.A. and all of the freedoms and democracy we stood for. We were "Capitalist Pigs" and because of that we were despised and it was only a matter of time before they launched an offensive and we would be compelled to defend ourselves. I knew more about nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles than any kid my age should have known. I worshiped Albert Einstein and was intrigued by the Atomic bomb. (I went so far at to write an entire paper about it in 8th grade.) My heroes were astronauts and the guys who worked in missile silos. I used to think how cool it would be to be the one who took the call from the President the night it finally happened.

"Yes Mr. President, immediately Mr. President."

"Lt. Johnson break out the codes, we are a go!"


I also remember a quiet evening where our family was relaxing at home when a neighbor was suddenly beating furiously on our front door, she burst in crying and told my mother that she had just heard on TV that the Soviet Union had launched nuclear missiles at the US. We huddled together on the couch and scanned the news looking for word for almost 30 minutes before we realized that she must have been mistaken. (this may have been related to the infamous "We begin bombing in five minutes." broadcast.)

As I grew older, I watched as the world changed. Our once mighty adversary who we feared for so many years , was transformed into a shell of it's former self. A land that I had been convinced the people truly hated us, actually feared their own government more than ours. I watched as a wall came down and revealed an empire in shambles. I saw phrases like "Nuclear Winter" and "Mutual Assured Destruction" replaced with Perestroika and Glasnost. I was mostly relieved, but deep down something inside me died with the U.S.S.R.. It is much easier to hate an enemy that you could see, an enemy that had as much at stake in the game as you did. An enemy that would smile at you by day and plot your demise by night always fearful that you were doing the same. There was honor in that system, as flawed as it was there was still honor.

~T.A.M.