Category: Uncategorized

So savage are the saviors

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, mental health, religion, UncategorizedLeave a comment

She should be made to leave. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/arapaho-tribe-asks-pastor-to-leave-for-idol-worship-remarks

Missionaries and other religious types, have been destroying native cultures for centuries…in the name of their made up, death and blood cults and elite gods…and they have the nerve to call native peoples savage. 

Native americans lived on this land, with this land, and as a part of this land, for over 30,000 years – as far as the evidence found by anthropologists, archeologists and their own ancient stories indicate – but it is possibly far longer. 

So what or who (please do not say god) gives prostelatizers of a less than 2k yr old religion the right to think their relatively new idea is any better or more correct than a way of life that stretches back over 28,000 years longer than their infantile death and blood focused religion?  If you have an answer, please share it with me, I’m all ears.  However, if you do think you have the answer, please be sure to support your answer with all the  applicable peer-reviewed evidence and all the appropriate citations to back it up.

Logic dictates

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, energy, Environment, EV, mental health, seekers, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Im not brilliant, im not special, im not popular, nor am I an athlete, artist, or a guru of anything really important in the long run. However, what i do have in spades in empathy and intuition and the ability to logically reason and make informed decisions based on the evidence at hand.
All my inherated intuition and instinct as well as all my learned tools and the mountains of damning evidence have been screaming at me and telling me for over a decade now that the current POTUS and his band of toxic misanthropic bullies are nothing but clear and present danger. If they succeed in their plans to destroy this once great country, we will all be chum for the deadly sharks that are circling in for the feeding frenzy.

Where is the NRA, I thought they were here to protect us from bad government? If this isn’t bad government, I do not know what is.

The founding fathers are spinning in their graves.

Leave the world better than you found it.

On By StevoIn anthropology, climate change, COVID-19, critical thinking, earth, electric vehicles, energy, Environment, EV, NASA, nature, nature vs. nurture, renewable energy, Science, seekers, space, Uncategorized, wildlife conservationLeave a comment

When I was a kid I would go outside and play and later ask my parents and doctors why I would cough and why my eyes, nose, throat, and lungs would burn and feel raw.

My parents and doctors would answer: it is air pollution from the burning of dirty fossil fuels that power our energy and transportation systems.

This is when I first learned what air pollution is – and how it impacts our health.

Then I would ask the adults this: if using these dirty fuels to run our society also harms our health – then why do we keep using these fuels?

They would answer with things like “It’s the smell of progress, the smell of money!” “It is just the way things are, accept it, move on, go outside, and play – oh, and stop thinking too much.”

WTF!

At the same time, I was spending around 1.5 hours a day riding to and from school on a school bus. The diesel exhaust was an everpresent aroma inside the bus. At the time I had no idea that I was inhaling concentrated toxic microscopic particulate matter originating from the combustion of the diesel fuel that powered the bus – and neither did all the other children. At the time, all I was concerned with while on the bus was staying away from all the toxic bullies I was trapped in the bus with – little did I know I was also inhaling toxic particles that were harming my health.

During this era my adoptive dad was also smoking himself to death. I said to him on many occasions – isn’t smoking just putting air pollution into your body? He said yes. He also said he knew that it was bad for his health, made him cough, poisoned and hurt his lungs, shortened his life, and cost our family loads of money. He often strongly told us kids to never ever do this terrible thing that he was doing all the time because it was harmful, dangerous, and expensive.

WTF! What was all this, all these conflicting signals? They were so very confusing to the mind of a child – and they are still confusing to the mind of an adult. (BTW: All this early exposure to air pollution during my developmental years later became allergies, asthma, and countless sinus infections.

Dad kept smoking and he died in his early 50s.

WTF! WHY?

I was dumbstruck by these apparent deep, dark, dirty problems that nobody seemed to want to change. They just kept up with the intentional, self-harming practices as if there were no tomorrow.

Again – WTF! WHY?

I then learned about all the anthropogenic pollution, global warming/climate change, the ozone hole, acid rain, species extinctions, desertification, sea level rise, etc, and the fact that all these things were tied to the uncontrolled rate at which our species was (and still is) burning fossil fuels.

During this time I also learned about addiction. I put 2 and 2 together and I realized that just as my dad had been addicted to tobacco and it had killed him, our society was addicted to fossil fuels and if we did not change – we were on the same path as my dad had been – a path that leads at best to misery and suffering and at worst – to our own extinction.

Yet again – WTF!

WTF was wrong with people???

Aren’t we Homo sapiens supposed to be the thinking apes???

If so, something is greatly wrong with our thinkers.

In middle school, high school, and later university, I learned that a great many everyday heroes were slowly and methodically working to end our toxic addiction to toxic fuels. They were inventing and putting into place new technologies and new laws that cleaned up our fuels, the atmosphere, and the waters and therefore our health and our shared futures.

Their efforts paid off and sometime in my early twenties my eyes, nose, and throat stopped burning and tingling when I would go outside in the summer – this was a direct result of the policies and technological advancements that limit and mitigate pollution from factories and power plants as well as require all fossil fuel-powered vehicles to have pollution reduction and control devices installed on their engines.

At the same time, others were inventing better energy sources based on renewable, non-polluting fuel sources that use the infinite clean energies of nature – the sun, wind, water, geothermal (and now even gravity energy) to make much cleaner energy that has far less of an impact on our health and shared future. A few years later others built modern vehicles powered by electricity – electricity that can be generated by the before-mentioned, domestically-sourced, energy-secure, renewable energy sources thereby starting the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy and transportation future.

Unfortunately for all of us there were and are powerful factions in government, religion, and the corporate sector teaming up and working together to spread Fear Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) about these new developments in a well-funded attempt to keep these technologies, innovations, and laws from being adopted by the masses. Why are they doing this? The answer is very simple – dirty money – and lots of it. These forces are more concerned with money than the future of all life on planet Earth. They are greedy, selfish humans whose only concern is the acquisition of as much wealth as possible at the expense of the environment and all the life it supports.

Today, and even with the greedy FUD manufacturing factions, I have even more hope for the future with renewable energy sources – especially rooftop solar – at prices, almost anyone can afford, fleets of quick, reliable electric vehicles hitting the roads, technological breakthroughs in clean energy happening almost daily, and so many great and forward-thinking people following the evidence and the science and making great and positive choices that will lead us into the future – all great reasons to continue forward and not just crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

This is why I follow the path of science and engineering – not narrow, self-serving politics, religions, and false prophets following only the profits.

This is why I let evidence, logic, and common sense be my guide to making the big decisions in my life.

This is why I am who I am.

This is why I fight for nature.

This is why I fight for the future.

This is why I teach.

Fight for change.

Be the change.

Do only good things.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to change, it’s not.” – The Lorax

Why I Write (a recovered draft from 2023)

On By StevoIn anthropology, depression, mental health, nature vs. nurture, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I write to share.

I write to teach.

I write to help me sort out my thoughts and emotions.

I write to vent about the inhumanity and injustices found in our species.

I write in the hopes that my thoughts, feelings, and experiences poured from the deepest recesses of my mind onto paper or screen, may somehow encourage you to learn, think, and maybe even help you the reader in some way that you need.

A brain story.

Last August (2022) I was on a beautiful beach surrounded by beautiful people and family – but inside my mind I was at my wit’s end wallowing in a deep, dark, pit of aching despair, depression, and anxiety.

Over the next few months I continued to have mild to what I would call severe anxiety attacks, there was no trigger, no reason, they just hit me randomly and out of the blue.

During this time I also began to feel disconnected from reality, from other humans, from life. I felt like I was an autonomous drone just roboting my way through life. My temper became shorter, my focus was gone, my drive and inspiration to create and educate – gone. Often when I had an attack my mind would just drift away into a bizarre zone of out of focus fog and heaviness, while at the same time my feet would feel heavy, or itchy – my hands and arms would tingle and my mojo was also just – gone. I had gone through a bout of COVID-19 in June of 2022 so I wondered if this was a form of “long covid” so many spoke of.

A few weeks later I decided to do something about it.

I went to see my doctor and had many tests to make sure none of my physical components were in an off-nominal state – while there were a couple of vitamin deficiencies that were easily corrected – there was not anything seriously physically out of order with my meat-robot body.

Then, I discovered I had severe sleep apnea and started on a CPAP device – and many of the most severe physical symptoms went away. With better sleep, I felt better…but the anxiety, depression, lack of focus and drive continued. I was at a loss.
So I started seeing a cognitive behavioral therapist and she and I talked through my life and issues and I realized that my trauma – all the years of being horribly bullied in school simply because i was a geeky little nerd who loved animals and science – and all the years of keeping my feelings and emotions bottled up inside – and all the years of not being able to come to terms and accept why so many people choose to hate others because they are not like them – all the years of not understanding why so many people choose greed, money, power, and control over taking care of other humans, animals, and their environmental life support system – all the years of being on high alert, being hyper-sensitive, hyper-vigilant – all the years of not accepting myself for who I am and what I have to offer others…all these things have weighed heavily on me and actually harmed me, physically, mentally, chemically, and emotionally.
Then, about 3 months ago my doctor did several tests to rule out other possible factors that could be impacting my mind and he discovered that I had a genetic marker for gluten sensitivity- so I am now gluten free. It has helped but sometimes it is hard to find forage.
The next test revealed that I had a neurotransmitter imbalance – so the doc started me on an anti-depressant.
Since I dropped the gluten and started the Cymbalta it is like I am my old self again.
Yes, the Cymbalta does have some odd side effects, but I’ll take them over the crushing anxiety and depression any day.

If you are experiencing similar symptoms then I encourage you to get a thorough physical exam and speak to a therapist – if it worked for me, it may work for you.
It was a long process to begin to find myself again – but it was so worth it. I am on the path to healing and it was science, technology, chemistry, and talk therapy that led me here. Maybe it will help you as well.
Also, take some time to spend some time in nature, it has always helped me.

I started a new audio book yesterday called “The body keeps the score” and, while i am only a few chapters in, it is speaking to me like no other piece of literature has since Carl Sagan’s Cosmos in the 1980’s. Maybe you should consider reading it as well.
Take care of yourself.
The world needs you.

One Love.

Peace

IDIC

Are you a thinking being?

On By StevoIn anthropology, conspiracy, critical thinking, Environment, nature vs. nurture, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I often get the feeling/impression that when some humans speak, they are not speaking from a place of conscious, mindful, thought, but from a sort of pre-recorded, instinctual, canned,  emotional response/outburst to an external input trigger.

This makes me ponder in real time, how many of us are actually using our amazing brains for actual critical thought based on the input of new evidence…or as simply a reflector on endless repeat for out-of-date and even toxic information absorbed during an earlier programming phase in our short existence.

Only you have the power to delete and rewrite your earlier programming with new and improved updates.

Upgrade your thoughts.

Use your brain.

Think before you speak.

Do Good and Pretti things.

One Love.

Peace.

MEAT

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, earth, Environment, nature, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

“They’re made out of meat.”
“Meat?”
“Meat.
“There’s no doubt about it.
We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat.”
“That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars.”
“They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them. The signals come from machines.”

“So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact.”
“They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”
“That’s ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You’re asking me to believe in sentient meat.”
“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they’re made out of meat.”
“Maybe they’re like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage.”
“Nope. They’re born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn’t take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?”
“Spare me. Okay, maybe they’re only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.”
“Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They’re meat all the way through.”
“No brain?”
“Oh, there is a brain all right. It’s just that the brain is made out of meat!”
“So… what does the thinking?”
“You’re not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat.”
“Thinking meat! You’re asking me to believe in thinking meat!”
“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?”

“Omigod. You’re serious then. They’re made out of meat.”
“Finally, Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And they’ve been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.”
“So what does the meat have in mind?”
“First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual.”
“We’re supposed to talk to meat?”
“That’s the idea. That’s the message they’re sending out by radio.
‘Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?’ That sort of thing.”
“They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?”
“Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat.”
“I thought you just told me they used radio.”
“They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat.”

“Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?”
“Officially or unofficially?”
“Both.”
“Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing.”
“I was hoping you would say that.”
“It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?”
“I agree one hundred percent. What’s there to say?”
`Hello, meat. How’s it going?’ But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?”
“Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can’t live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact.”
“So we just pretend there’s no one home in the universe.”
“That’s it.”
“Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You’re sure they won’t remember?”
“They’ll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we’re just a dream to them.”
“A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat’s dream.”
“And we can mark this sector unoccupied.”
“Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?”
“Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again.”
“They always come around.”
“And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone.”

I have no idea who wrote this, but it sure does give the reader a different perspective on our predicament as the ephemeral meatsack monkeys that we are. 

Follow Through

On By StevoIn anthropology, critical thinking, earth, nature, religion, seek, seekers, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Something I have learned by living so long:

If you always follow through and do what you say you will do, if you do good things that support others, animals, and nature, and if you do those things above and beyond what is required – more good things will come back to you in great and helpful quantities.

The Universe, Gaia, God/Ja/Allah, The Great Spirit, Karma…something far larger than we little apelike creatures, notices our good actions and supports them with even more good things.

Do only good things.

Do what you say you will do.

Follow through.

Leave things better than you found them.

One Love.

Peace.

*photo of a Monarch chrysalis on a Milkweed in my garden as an attention grabber.

What do you perceive?

On By StevoIn anthropology, climate change, conspiracy, critical thinking, earth, energy, Environment, nature, nature vs. nurture, religion, Science, seek, space, UncategorizedLeave a comment

“The freedom we seek is to use our own mind and body, to live our own life, instead of the life of the belief system.”

“Everything you perceive is being filtered through your entire belief system. And the result of interpreting everything you perceive by using everything you believe is your personal dream, an entire virtual reality in your mind. Perhaps you can see how easy it is for humans to distort what we perceive. Light reproduces a perfect image of what is real, but we distort the image by creating a story with all those opinions and beliefs that we learned. We dream about it with our imagination, and by agreement we think that our dream is the absolute truth when the real truth is that our dream is a relative truth, a reflection of the truth that is always going to be distorted by all the knowledge we have stored in our memory.”

“The dream of life is really an illusion, and everybody lives in the reality he or she creates – a virtual reality that is only true for the one who creates it.”

“The truth is that beliefs and ideas only exist in one place: the human mind. They are not “out there” in the world, but rather the filter by which everything we perceive gets sorted.”

“Life as you perceive it is a reflection of your perceptions and beliefs. It is not real, but rather a dream. To some this may sound negative, but in fact it is positive because if your life is a dream, and you become aware of the fact that you are the dreamer, then you can consciously create the dream you want to see and live the life you want to live.”

“The dream you are living is your creation. It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.
You have the power to create hell, and you have the power to create heaven. Why not dream a different dream? Why not use your mind, your imagination, and your emotions to dream heaven?”

~Don Jose Ruiz

(Art by ‘Felipe Posada’)

There are no rules other than those we create that say we must follow a belief system, be it religious or political or any other, in order to live on this planet in this time.  

True freedom is found only by freeing your mind from the ancient control systems devised by those who want to control you, your time, your energy, your money, and your consious.  Free your mind and use your finite amount of uptime to think for yourself and do good things for others, and for our planetray life support system.

Don’t choose to be a smoothbrain.

On By StevoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Inherited and voluntary smoothbrains breeding, raising smoothbrained children, then voluntarily electing and supporting other smoothbrains while choosing to believe/support/worship ancient, cultish, evidence-lacking belief systems manufactured by long dead ancient peoples…and then twisting it all together with xenophobic fear-based toxicly tribal nationalism, racism, hate, fear, and hyper-masculinity designed to enslave and degrade…and even unalive women and minorities…while mixing in high technology and engineering that many people today have zero knowledge of…into a political idiocracy, is a big part of why we are in this dangerously inflammatory mess.

When will people start thinking for themselves!!!

Are you fully conscious?

On By StevoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The greatest gifts my parents ever gave me were the following:

  1. Life
  2. The freedom to think for myself and to choose the path of my own life based upon my own experiences, education, knowledge, interests, and the critical thinking skills they gave me so I would be able to choose wisely and filter the hog out of all the hogwash.