Stuff I like

The age of petroleum

2009-01-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

Is it really possible?

Can this really be true?

No way!

These phrases often flip and tumble in my mind as I search through the "by owner

only" apartment listings on Craigslist.

Didn't I just hear something about a housing crisis? Aren't banks supposedly choking on an overwhelming lack of responsiblity?

I mean $2000 for a studio?! What?!

Who in their right mind still pays these prices?

Wasn't unemployment drafting rookies almost as fast as the local food bank?

You know, you have to ask yourself the question sometimes. Am I going to perpetuate the bullshit prices put out by conniving brokers? The same brokers that put up free ads on craigslist and ask for a months rent after letting you walk from the bathroom to the kitchen. Am I going to keep those prices high?

I say no!

Good people of the world, stop buying in! You are getting ripped. Find a nice simple place to stay and don't overpay, you're screwing the rest of us!

Some of us aren't really interested in flushing our salaries and savings for a place to sleep.

Give us a fighting chance man!

LIFE SUCKS!

2008-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

I found this post on the rants and raves in craigslist new york. It's amazes me sometimes how much people can overlook the simple things, the golden things, that make our lives worth living.

It sounds like the man works and has cash to spare (what little it is) .. and at the moment that's more than I can say for myself.

This is what I stumbled on:

LIFE SUCKS...!

Reply to: pers-839822504@craigslist.org ^[?]
Date: 2008-09-13, 9:22PM EDT

Not sure why I’m here bitching but have no one else to bitch to. Here it goes; I’m over 40 and still single, still living in a 1 bedroom rental apartment. Don’t really have anything good on the horizon. I haven’t gotten laid in since god know when and don’t really see any potential of getting any anytime soon either unless someone throws me a mercy fuck which I wouldn’t mind.
My question is how the fuck did I get to this point. It’s not long that I thought I had everything; had a beautiful young girlfriend, had so many friends that I couldn’t get to them all, had a huge bank account and a great business and the future looked great. In almost 4 year now I have lost my beautiful girlfriend., have no fucking idea where my money went, lost my business and the only thing I have left is this apartment and to be honest with you I have no idea how have I been able to hold on to it. I gained 30 fucking pounds because everyone told me I should quit smoking and so I did but gained all this weight. I’m too depressed to work out so I just keep gaining weight. I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do and not sure how long I’m going to last like this. All of my friends are married and have their own lives and to be honest with you I don’t think they care much for me anymore. Have some family but they don’t seem to interested in staying in touch with me, they consider me a looser so they don’t want anything to do with me.

Anyway., just needed to let this out since I have no one to talk to anymore.

So, of course, I had to respond:

I saw your rant.

My roomate is 47 and he couldn't come up with his end of the rent for the past two months. We're about to get evicted. He's gonna check out some shelters this week. I'm looking for storage.

You've got your own one bedroom apartment. If you're looking to spice up your life I might suggest a prostitute; if you throw a party you can get free dibbs. It's a great way to get your confidence back and I've got a great contact if you need one. Honest, reliable, and affordable Nothing more than what you need and when you need it the most. No drama and no strings.

Everything else is as it is and always will be. You can't worry about all that shit. Families are overrated. The fact that you're not making babies is helping the planet. Nobody ever says a sperm is a terrible thing to waste. For good reason.

Anyway.. all the best!

Jeremiah's Right

2008-05-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Let me predicate this by first explaining how much of an expert I am not. I know nothing of the origins of AIDS/HIV, and I know little about the current status of its research. I also don't have much time to watch the news . . . lemme rephrase that. I don't watch the news. I therefore have no idea about context clues in the statements of the famous Jeremiah Wright; apparently it was very important to be aware of them.

Having said that I agree with the esteemed reverend. I think his general statement was something akin to: the US Government does experiments on black folks. Well in the past this was true. From what I understand the Tuskegee Experiments were directly subsidized by the state. Hence the overwhelming disgust of the events that transpired. These days its a bit different.

The current FDA forces pharmaceutical companies to go through a long approval process before allowing the distribution of some drug or another. The ugly truth that most people don't want to recognize is that chemists aren't so brilliant as to be able to synthesize the exact compound with computer models; that exact compound that is exactly right for curing cancer while still maintaining a heart beat. In fact it's necessary to experiment and see what exactly this grand new idea does to living beings.

Many household products and cosmetics companies pump their products into animals' stomachs, rub them onto their skin, squirt them into their eyes, or force animals to inhale them as aerosol sprays. Charities such as the March of Dimes use donations from private citizens to fund experiments on animals. The FDA requires all drugs to be tested on animals. The Animal Welfare Act requires laboratories to report the number of animals used in experiments, but it does not cover mice, rats, and birds (used in some 80 to 95 percent of all experiments). Because these animals are not covered by the act, they remain uncounted, and we can only guess at how many animals have suffered and been tortured from these experiments.

Back in school I remember one biology student that would tell me about some of her research. Apparently she was involved in this study that necessitated the use of monkey brains; from monkeys that were still alive. The skulls of monkeys were opened, and probes were stuck into different areas in the brain matter. Now since anesthetics may have a variable effect on the results, the monkeys were restrained, and the bone saw was used quickly to keep from damaging the brain matter while the animals jerked and squealed.

There is another stage. After all, dogs drink from the toilet, we don't presume to believe drugs might react to drugs in exactly the same way people would. There is a human stage.

I was a part of this human stage once. It paid well and allowed me to be jobless for a while. That's a key sentence. If one considers the fact that pharmaceutical companies could give a shit whether you're homeless or an ex-con, then one might also consider the likely medical study participant. As long as you have the right blood type, drug companies could give a shit about your illicit or downtrodden past existence. This affords an opportunity where opportunities have been lost in many of the ethnic communities in our country.

The stigma of a medical study in "the new organic society" combined with the inability of so many of our nations cultural diaspora being left out of the greater economy introduces a striking reality when I arrive at a clinical study. The competition is stiff. For a few positions, eight or nine study participants needed, 30 to 40 will be trying to make the cut. A few will make an alternate position just in case someone backs about. I would argue that people trying to get into medical studies are among our societies healthiest individuals. Is it, in fact, their job to be physically superior over the next candidate.

I would also argue that people trying to get into medical studies are, for the most part, black.