About a week ago, my wife informed me that she’d had enough. Enough of the dire predictions of brain cancer, enough of the pointless incoming texts, enough of the time wasted checking voice mails. Enough, already, of her mobile phone. So she left a message on her mobile telling callers to reach her at home or at work. On a LAND LINE. No nasty radiation, no worrying about charging, and vastly improved call quality.

I was more than a little impressed. And jealous. How I’d love to do away with my pocket computer/phone/camera/peso-to-dollar currency converter. And I do try to leave it away from my person as often as I’m able (which is never because I am utterly addicted to that little Blackjack II). But watching her effortlessly and absolutely painlessly move away from her phone is inspiring. She’s exercising more, reading more, even talking to her friends in person on occassion. She’s everything I’m not, everything I can’t be, chained as I am to my posture-destroying, gray matter-frying device. Mind you, she’s no Luddite, just a very smart girl who finally woke up and realized that having her mobile did nothing to improve the quality of her life and arguably impinged upon that quality.

Amazing, I say. How often is it that someone asks, “What am I doing? Why do I have this? What is it doing for me, really?” No, we always buy the newest, latest, just because everyone else (iPhone???) has. In this household, one of us has broken away from the greatest electronic plague in human history. Gives me hope that one day I will be able to shake the infection as well.

From today’s L.A. Times:

“But with no clear consensus on a deal emerging, and with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah falling on Tuesday, some Capitol Hill aides speculated that a final deal may not come to a vote before Wednesday.”

Oh visitors, please do tell me something: What the hell does a religious holiday have to do with whether or not we pass legislation? In a nation founded largely by atheists and agnostics, one that has very, very, very clear Constitutional division between church and State, reading words like those above really flummoxes me. Not that I believe we need to act quickly (I’d rather see informed action than rushed action), but Rosh Hashanah should play no more part in our government affairs than any of the other days dedicated to imaginary invisible beings.

*I suspect even saying the word “Jewish” will label me to some as anti-Semitic, right? Far, far from the truth. The chosen people? They’re in my blood. This is about faith v. politics, nothing more.

Did you notice that? Neither had an answer, nor showed any sign of comprehending the situation. Here’s a guy who is running for President (whose presence  in the race is adding 3% to Obama), who clearly knows what’s going on: READ ME, DEAREST VISITOR.

Wow. When Bush said that, every Democrat was appalled at the statement. Now Obama says it…I doubt anyone will comment on this. Do we capture him, then kill him? Does it matter that Osama has been dead for years? And then there’s McCain. Can we clone Thomas Jefferson and bring him back? Please?

Turns out Wi-Fi may well be more damaging to our bodies than mobile signals. In fact, the German government advises it’s citizens to refrain from using Wi-Fi. Along with this, a number of studies show great cause for concern. Rather than link to them, I’ll let you search on your own. The feeling of discovery will be rewarding/I’m too lazy to bother/you should be concerned enough to look it up.

So, as of today, our household is Wi-Fi free. Paranoid? Maybe, but I’ve a six year-old son (kids are far more susceptible, with their reduced bone density) and why not be proactively safe, rather than belatedly sorry? Do I really need to be able to move around into any room with my laptop? Seriously…we’ve become accustomed to so much portability that it’s counter-productive. I prefer spaces designated for certain activities. A house that can quick-change at a moment’s notice (first it’s a bedroom, now it’s an office!), just not for me. Defined spaces, areas I can go to get away…this is what I’m after in a domestic retreat. Tying my computers down, it’s a real domestic improvement. You follow? Oh, my connection speeds are drastically improved, not that it really matters to me.

Ask yourself this question: Is the threat of cancer, proven or not, more important to me than the ability to move my computer around my home. If the answer is yes, ditch your Wi-Fi. If the answer is no, I pity you something fierce.

Now, what to do about my neighbors whose Wi-Fi signals perforate our walls?

(Next Week: A report on how Andrea is faring after her first week of ditching her mobile phone. No, we’re not Luddites, we’ve just realized how we’ve unthinkingly adopted every new techology, without measurable quality of life gains.)

MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION: WHAT YOU AND I CAN DO
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB3ch13_ss7.htm

Lester R. Brown

One of the questions I am frequently asked when I am speaking in various countries is, given the environmental problems that the world is facing, can we make it? That is, can we avoid economic decline and the collapse of civilization? My answer is always the same: it depends on you and me, on what you and I do to reverse these trends. It means becoming politically active. Saving our civilization is not a spectator sport.

We have moved into this new world so fast that we have not yet fully grasped the meaning of what is happening. Traditionally, concern for our children has translated into getting them the best health care and education possible. But if we do not act quickly to reverse the earth’s environmental deterioration, eradicate poverty, and stabilize population, their world will decline economically and disintegrate politically.

The two overriding policy challenges are to restructure taxes and reorder fiscal priorities. Saving civilization means Read the rest of this entry »

I was poking around at the local Salvation Army, a massive sprawling compound knows as Lytton Springs (pictured-seriously). It’s a huge wasteland of garbage. No, really, it’s all garbage. And people (like myself) paw around in it, amongst the broken and cracked bits of detritus tossed by others. There is nothing redeeming about this, nothing hip or cool about thrifting…it simply shows an insatiable desire to participate in consumer culture at some level. The indie rock kids will tell you it’s better somehow than going to the mall, more noble. Bullshit. We still can’t help but buy crap (literally) that we don’t need. Busted old typewriters look so very DIY-Dwell on the mantelpiece. One day, we’ll wake up and realize that we’ve filled our homes with discarded office equipment in an effort to make certain visitors can at a glance recognize our “tribe”. Newsflash: There are no tribes. We’re called shoppers. We all play for the same losing team.

Anyway, I ’scored’ (ugh) a run of 1984-85 GEO Magazines. Like Nat’l Geographic except sometimes there are naked white women instead of only naked black women and all the articles are translated from German. . .oh and along with the fantastic wildlife spreads are great articles on gun running and exposes on the trans-continental wool trade. Great stuff, really.

My much-belabored point? I’m reading a nifty piece on glaciers and it turns out…this is pretty rich…hold your hat….that waaaaaay back in the 1980s, it was feared that falling GLACIERS WERE GOING TO THREATEN THE OIL SUPPLY by sinking oil transport ships.

How rich is that? Glaciers threatening oil. HAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAA. HAHA. HA. Umm….

You absolutely must revel in the irony, no? Damn, but we’re a clever species.

There are a number of things in this video that I appreciate incredibly. If you don’t, we likely wouldn’t make good friends. Oh, we could hang out, maybe even dance, but super-best-buddies? Highly unlikely.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOESYhVZpEY[/youtube]

All you need to know about what is, has been, and will happen is right here:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JI23Dj07.html

The Clinton-Bush regimes have been phenomenal, just phenomenal.

(Thanks again, LO)

Click the photo for an amazing tour of Tickl Magazine!

Tickl is an incredible, high-quality, Austrian journal that is dedicated to the advancement of erotic adventures and the Polaroidic art form. I’ve been honored to participate in this latest issue by snapping a photo and penning a short play.

For those of you who need a visual reminder of my photo obsession, one which seems to be generating a fair amount of money and attention these days, oddly enough: JUNETEN

Go ahead, subscribe to Tickl. It’s all the rage in Europe…and lord knows we can all stand to be a bit more European these days (whatever that means).

**For those of you who have arrived here via Googling my name after having done professional work with me (production, marketing, writing projects), don’t let my peccadilloes or political opinions persuade you to find me more honorable or competent. I am base, immoral and altogether shiftless.