America’s Ridiculous War on Agenda 21

America – increasingly impoverished, with little social support for the people. Why would I write this? Because I care. Why do I think this?…

Well, most Americans — and I was one of them before — don’t see it. It is hard to see how things are ruined when you live somewhere for years. But when you come back like me and can make comparisons, it is shocking.

It is unbelievable to me that due to lack of funding there were only three people working at the 12-window tax office when I went (and only for a couple of hours in the morning), with a long line of people waiting outside. The long lines at the DMV and lack of offices. The lack of funding for libraries and teacher’s salaries at schools, while administrators make much more. The lack of convenient public transportation. No publicly supported Health Care System for everyone — at least where you don’t have to pay a billion dollars for an ouchy (Here ambulances are FREE! Yes! Why? Because they are used in emergencies!).

With the level of social support it has, America reminds me of Mexico, but with good roads, rich people, and less direct corruption.

Now, I’m not saying Japan is perfect, by any means. It has its own very long list of social problems, and the result of that can be seen if you click on the World Happiness Report link later in this post. Japan ranks a very low #58 on the report, and for good reason. I also recognize that each place has its good points and its bad points, and that often these are a balance. For example, we could take Japan and say the people are so polite here, yes, they are but it is because they need to be, or else they get ostracized. It is very difficult to work in here. I could write an even longer post on Japan, but that wouldn’t be very Japanesey of me 😉

Without limitations in the US, corporate heads get huge salaries, Congress gets paid for life, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies make unbelievable amounts of money off of an increasingly taxed people, and the list goes on.

It is amazing to me how many Americans still haven’t figured out they are being led around by a carrot by the false two-party system, and instead support conspiracy theories in their fear.

It is time that Agenda 21 was taken out of the closet.
American politicians get your acts together, and voters, look around at the other successful countries in the world, or there will be problems due to simple hygiene issues. Let me explain.

Just like someone who doesn’t take a shower or brush their teeth, buy new underwear when needed, and eat properly, America is not doing the basics to maintain what is necessary for a healthy economy. Instead, like an internet gamer waking up, eating junk food and spending hours watching TV and playing video games rather than working towards getting a job, the efforts are badly placed and will ultimately result in a negative balance for the country.

Living in Japan, I have seen some things that make me really reconsider moving back. Here, there is funding support for government entities. Not that they are wallowing in it; the buildings are old but clean. That being said, there are always people to help you at the Japanese DMV, the city hall, and all other branches I have visited. Almost never a long line, and if so people really complain indignantly.

There is funding for teachers, not only administrators, and for libraries to buy books. There is a cap on salaries, so most who would make $700k+ in the States don’t make more than $150k to $200k, and all jobs are respected because it is a job and someone is working hard every day at whatever they do.

The government has a working health insurance system, and the payment is based on how much money one makes, so no one is left without health insurance and can afford their medicine. If you can’t pay now, you can pay later, but the cost is within reason. The list goes on.

In Europe, my friend just posted that he saw 11 different political parties in Denmark discussing how to deal with their problems, not just two parties pretending to deal with problems while making an easy road for their friends in the back room or waiting for their incumbency term after 8 years. Denmark, by the way, is 2nd in the World Happiness Report.

In the US, people of course want to live in beautiful places where there are good schools and infrastructure. But sadly, I don’t see it on a whole, and it is not the government’s fault (they are just doing what they do best…); it is the people themselves who do not see how their decisions are creating problems.

Maybe you think I am simple-minded, but remember, the constitution and the bill of rights can be read in less than an hour. I have done it. Resolving many issues doesn’t have to be complicated and long. It has to be clear, have breadth and depth and logic. It has to have the qualities of the intellectual standards of critical thinking.

Here are my recommendations. They are not many, and definitely don’t cover most topics, but they are a start. If you have other things you would like to see change, write them in the comments section!

I think we need to encourage bike lanes. It isn’t bad to have bicycles, and it is dangerous for people riding them. Encourage public transportation. Encourage putting money into the DMV and schools, so that you don’t waste time in line, and your children grow up healthy in body and mind.

It’s time for America to grow into America The Beautiful from America on crutches.
Please read this Wikipedia article on Agenda 21 and find out where America stands, and why you should care.

Finnish Ed & Humanizing Math

https://medium.com/@sunilsingh_42118/you-really-want-to-rehumanize-math-education-build-a-new-ship-8aa6fe6b43d0

Had this hopeful future been the case when I was in school, I might have become a physicist.

But because my ability in math was based on time, not actual ability, I was even derided by the teacher in my precalculus class.

That being said, the Fractal of Life, in all its complexity and confusion has led me here, and actually anywhere is really okay. It is the journey, and feeling it, that matters.

At some point maybe the world education system will realize that there is a reason Finland’s education system (wherein children are not given homework and are allowed freedom after only three hours of school) has been top-rated worldwide. Maybe they will see that rather than trying to control and test what has been literally crammed into delicate grey matter, it is ultimately better to allow our infinitely more-intelligent-than-us yet extremely naive children to explore their world. After all it is theirs, and they will all tell you their concerns for the future, which are very real… Actually, there may be a correlation with the education system and the fact that Finland is also famous for its social support and peace in its society. It is consistently rated one of the top happiest countries on Earth according to the Happiness Index.

But it may take destroying all we have for reasons included in the Seven Deadly Sins (there is a reason they are called that), before we change our idiotic ways from control and fear of the unknown, to trusting and allowing guided growth. In that healthy future, people might choose very different careers. They might choose happiness instead of money, an in doing so really be alright financially.

In fact, people would be much happier because they would have been training since a young age to follow their interests instead of what they are force-fed to think is what they have to do. In this, the overall quality of everything, from furniture to management would improve, because only those who thought that they were good at something would pursue it, and they would know it from their elementary education. 

I was once told by Dr. Fujii, the Japanese traditional garden specialist, that the reason Japanese garden trees have changed so much is this. In ancient Japan, the trees were pruned for the way they wanted to grow. This style of pruning can still be seen in Kyoto, and the most beautiful example I have ever seen is the tiny private garden in the imperial palace there.

Now they are pruned to force them into what is considered the proper form, or what is most convenient for the space. They are caricatures of what they could be, and the gardens suffer for it visually.

The trees, like the children, are being stunted, forced to fit into a mold, and not allowed to become the greatest they could be.

Rainforest Commons

Happy birthday to me.

The last of the Amazon Rainforest is being torn down and scorched to ashes. I can feel it. It is a horrible. It is a classic example of the Tragedy of the Commons. The Rainforest has no physical owners… That anyone with power RESPECTS anyway. They are too wise for their own good in this small-minded modern world, and instead call themselves “Guardians of the Forest”. Also, they have no money, and in this story, people with money are greedy assholes who want more. So with guns, bulldozers, and flamethrowers, they take it. It’s not hard. Because to be a guardian is to understand that nothing in the world is yours. Not your children or your spouse. Nor your pet or your house. Philosophically speaking, we own nothing. We are born with nothing, and we die with nothing. Ownership is an illusion formed by society so that we can create rules and systems… But the rainforest does not work inside our little boxes.

The sad thing is that, we are so obsessed with what we have and what we want, that we have forgotten that what is shared is our greatest treasure. Our greatest moments of humanity are spent when we are together in some way, sharing an experience. A concert, an exhibit, an awestriking view, a traditional family dinner, an anniversary, a trip to the park. It is when we give to each other. When we forget “this person is MINE” and instead stare in wonder at the person we love after they have done something that strikes us at the depths of our souls… The sad thing is, the Rainforest and its Indigenous inhabitants are a gift to us all. Like the artists at an exhibit, or the band at the concert, or our loved-one who is not ours but is there for us out of simply being there. We could have sat at dinner with the Rainforest and enjoyed her wonders, and instead we rape her and steal and burn. So that we can have a steak dinner with our loved ones who we know so much better. We don’t need the steak dinner… because just like too much sugar, the loss of the forest is going to kill us. Because we are so small, in our little societal boxes, we fail to see that this is going to be our undoing. Our individual greed translates to a colossal demon that is ripping the forests out, vomiting on the oceans, and creating agricultural deserts of nothing but “green”, because it is something inedible that does not contribute to the global ecosystem — meaning no one else can use it except for us. At the same time we increasingly commit atrocities within the social system, underneath our own noses and behind closed doors in the name of “science” for the next LD50 or to test the physical testicular load on rats so that we can see the best supplement for testosterone production. Ridiculous!!! What a joke. The Tragedy of the Commons is no less ridiculous than it was when first coined, and no less deadly. Because whatever is not owned by someone more powerful than anyone else, is going to be abused and destroyed in the name of…. Whatever anyone feels like saying!! “We are going to test on all sorts of little animals, because, well, they aren’t human.” So WHAT?! “We need more cows, so uh, we’re just going to build this farm right here where thousands of species are living now but will disappear.” What if it were OUR SPECIES?!

What.If.It.Were.Our.Family?

The Indigenous people’s religions in the USA and Mexico were misconstrued 450 years ago. They did not believe in this Father Sun God or that Mother Rain God. They believe that actually, the rain is their family member, the plants are their family members also. Because they are. Even in the Bible it says that man is to be steward; that means a guardian, not an abusive owner.

And if humanity is able to survive the next hundred and fifty years, it will be because we were somehow able to move past our little boxes, into a wider philosophy that protects the Commons, we found some sort of protection for the Commons, or we lost everything we had and somehow from the garbage left over from our ancestors, we built a new philosophy. One about being sisters and brothers with everything around us, because in the end, that is the only way we can maintain the world “for seven generations” after our own. And the land we stole, we took from the wise who had lived here 20,000 years already, and would live indefinitely, in their family of man and sky and land, enjoying concerts, exhibits, traditional family dinners, and trips to the park, had we not come.

Indigenous Lives are at stake… by our own hands. Please be conscious of your purchases, buy reused goods, eat more vegetables and fruit, and breathe in the moment. “This is OUR Earth, most friendly Earth and fair, daily her sea and shore, through sun and shadow, faithful she turns robed in her azure air…”

Major companies, permanent work-from-home, and the future of humanity

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/01/major-companies-talking-about-permanent-work-from-home-positions.html

Yes. Let’s fast forward about 10 years. Because there are less people in cities, there is less chance for people to spread disease. Also, with more people in localized areas, local business flourishes again. Small businesses, mom and pop shops, and true pride through craftsmanship are given a new beginning. We also find space (in my wholesome and imagined future) for public edible landscape where everyone can meet their neighbors and chat while picking the red raspberries. Because people can get out more freely, there are more local social networks, and there’s also a deeper relationship with the landscape, as well as the inhabitants of it, the birds, the butterflies, and the bees. We move forward into another, more mature stage of humanity.

Tech vortex?

So I was reading this article about how Chinese LCD panel companies are winning the race against LG and Samsung. The article is posted here.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/LG-and-Samsung-in-full-retreat-before-Chinese-flat-panel-onslaught

It seems like there’s a tech vortex movement going on; they’re just trying to focus on the same technology instead of looking outside the box. They’re trying to make old technology better and better, and branch out into new kinds of panels. That being said, they’re still panels.

We could be being had; I often feel like they come up with technology and don’t actually put it out because they want to make money for the next year or two on old tech, but with this, I don’t think that’s the case.

I feel like with AR and that kind of technology, there’s a lot of potential that hasn’t been tapped that relates really closely. I predict that there’s going to be a huge shift within the next five years away from solid panels.

I think they probably have people working in think tanks in some of these companies trying to figure out new technology and how to integrate it into AR technology, or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s just Google. The thing is that LCD panels (TV’s, monitors) take up a lot of natural resources, not to mention space in your house, and I’m sure that there is a better way to convey information.

I know there are a lot of people now using projectors, like the really cool projectors from Xiaomi that can be really close to the wall and are silent and can give you a really nice, big picture, but still projectors have their limitations like light interference.

So I’m thinking, something like some special glasses where you can look into them and see the AR of your favorite TV show or surf the net without having to take up any space at all… Kind of reminds me of a guy from the 1920s with a monocle.

Small Is Beautiful Revisited

Re-reading the classic Small Is Beautiful by the economist E.F. Schumacher, I found a little gem.

“What is it that we really require from scientists and technologists? I should answer: We need methods and equipment which are

Cheap enough so that they are accessible to virtually everyone;

Suitable for small-scale application; and

Compatible with man’s need for creativity.”

“Out of these three characteristics is born non-violence and a relationship of man to nature which guarantees permanence. If only one of these three is neglected, things are bound to go wrong…”