Flying Around Google Earth

It is so deeply moving for me to just fly around google earth and explore random places. Get perspectives. I imagine myself there and it shakes me to the core.

Today I found myself flying around Dallas for hours. Getting some cool and moving perspectives, but not much to say. Not much to see in street view. Then I randomly decided to drop a pin in England, street view, and BAM! Instant beauty. (Map Location). It's like that every time - I could drop a pin anywhere in the world outside the US and I have a 95% chance of seeing something wonderful. Beautiful or interesting. Humble, but glorious. Profound and withstanding. Look at this picture I wish such love was etched into our walls. I wish I knew what it was like to truly have a heritage; to really deeply love my country. In a way that I could not describe. To feel the same love you have for your country coming through the ancient chisel strokes of a man you've never met. I have no idea what that feels like. But I feel it in every brick of even the lowest slums in the farthest places on earth.

I feel like we just keep saying "America is great", "freedom!", just because we think we're supposed to, but nobody really feels it. Nobody really believes it. Is it just me? Am I just negative? Am I suffering from "the grass is always greener"? Am I "only happy when it rains"? When I have something to complain about? Or am I sincerely concerned about a very real cultural vacuum? Vanilla. I feel like our flag should just be a decaying white canvas. Like everyone who has come here has left behind their culture, and replaced it with nothing. Every other country has piles and piles of paint upon paint, and they continue to tend to it, but no one has touched ours. No one wants to say something, put something on that canvas, that then they'd have to tend to. But the canvas needs tending itself. And it will disintegrate without paint. But I have no answers, solutions, or solid ideas. How would I have started this experiment differently? I don't know. Maybe I'm just wrong and I can't see what's right in front of me. I mean if I'm right about us having some sort of culture-lacking culture, then how do we produce so much worldwide entertainment? Are we just experts at exploitation, manipulation, and spectacle, unafraid to use shock value and break laws like a cheap hooker because we have nothing else to offer? Are we just turning the world vanilla? Or is there something we really contribute that I just don't see? Is there some deep unspoken unique cultural value in the US that I live and breathe so much I simply don't notice?

I struggle with this every day. I didn't have a tough childhood compared to many, but I have never felt like I was truly a citizen of this country. Accepted. Treated equally, given freedom. A citizen of the world, maybe--at least that made logical sense. In the middle of shithole, TX, I was not given the opportunity in public school to specialize in things that kids in bigger city public schools could--the options were Ag (agriculture) or the horse-shit vanilla version of every subject. I felt neglected and discriminated; forced to participate in a system that hated thinking and learning but required my childhood as payment; surrounded by collections of people that do not care, consisting of individuals that really wanted to, but were okay without, afraid to challenge an imaginary norm, living vicariously through characters in movies who escape it. I just constantly find myself saying, "What the fuck?" I can only imagine what black kids have gone through in poorer communities. What has happened, and what do we do to change it in a real way? How was England able to get over slavery before us and fully integrate black people into their society while the land of the free is still sitting over here with it's thumb up it's ass? 240 years. 240 years of freedom and we just keep inventing new forms of slavery.

Am I just a jerk or what? Let me know. I just want to have real love and pride for where I am and where I came from, and right now it seems like the only way to do that is to be an island unto myself. I want my children someday to have that feeling I've never known.

(Map Location)

Protest Against "Pixels" DMCA Action

According to this article, Columbia Pictures has hired and anti-piracy firm to go around demanding takedowns of every video on the internet that includes the word "pixels" (thanks to reddit for bringing this to my attention). They're even taking down videos that students made for no profit for an assignment.

This is out of fucking control. What level of stupidity are we willing to tolerate? Our culture is our responsibility, and we need to stop letting these assholes destroy it. They are not allowed to stifle speech and creativity. Not because our government says so or not; because we say so. Because if we say so, our government will eventually reflect and protect that. This is OUR society. OUR culture. You can't just hijack a word out of our language. We need to seriously re-think our IP laws, but first we need those with power to know that we are not okay with this.

We need to send the IP owners of Pixels a big "fuck you".

So I say we protest by putting the word "pixels" in every sentence, picture, or context we can, while also not spending a single cent on the movie Pixels, or anything else associated with Columbia Pictures.

Here are some pixels images you can download and use for a profile picture (or whatever you want--I won't go after you).

I included the DMCA note in my images because according to the Library of Congress, false DMCA complaints are punishable under penalty of perjury, and I am sick of seeing the rich and powerful walk free when they break the law. If I put up a video on Youtube titled "pixels", then put in a DMCA complaint for the trailer for the movie "Pixels", and it got taken down, I could get put in jail. But it would never happen to someone in power at Columbia Pictures. It takes an act of congress to make someone with money or political power face criminal charges. Why is that okay? Their action against the word "pixels" should be considered unlawful, so I think they should be charged criminally for every single "pixels" takedown request submitted on their behalf. (Of course it would have to be led by an agency with the money to do it--yay freedom pixels)

Let me make this very clear: I believe Columbia's activity against the word "pixels" should be considered illegal activity punishable by perjury under the DMCA because their claim to ownership of the word "pixels" is false. No one person or entity has a right to claim IP ownership of a word that our culture came up with. Nobody has the right to claim sole ownership of any previously existing word or creation from any language or any culture that has ever existed. You do have the right to create new words and help us create new culture. You do not have the right to conquer existing culture unto yourself, thereby removing it from society and contributing to social degradation. I believe these rights are evidenced not by written law but by common sense, cultural sense, and the inherent responsibility to preserve culture, language, and freedom of speech. It's a basic human right. Pixels.

Make your own pixel images! Share them pixels! Don't forget to use the word "pixels" every chance you get. Just tack it on to the end of your sentences, like this pixels. "Pixels" can be the new period. A period is a pixel, anyways. How poetic.

We do this stuff for gay rights and other important issues in our culture. We should continue taking responsibility for our culture by protecting our language and artistic expression. I want to see what you guys create, and I don't want you to be afraid of any kind of stupid shit like this.

Some interesting ideas and thoughts in this reddit thread. If you have any other ideas on how to protest this or any useful links, please share in the comments pixels.

Prayer in C - The Internalization of God

This song was stuck in my head recently, I figured out why, and I think the answer is noteworthy. This song describes exactly where I am--in the middle of internalizing God. I think it's popular right now because that's exactly where society is. Take a look.


Here is the music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiore9Z5iUg


Here are the lyrics.

LILLY WOOD & THE PRICK LYRICS
"Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Remix)"
(with Robin Schulz)

Yah, you never said a word
You didn't send me no letter
Don't think I could forgive you

See our world is slowly dying
I'm not wasting no more time
Don't think I could believe you

Yah, you never said a word
You didn't send me no letter
Don't think I could forgive you

See our world is slowly dying
I'm not wasting no more time
Don't think I could believe you

Yah, our hands will get more wrinkled
And our hair will be grey
Don't think I could forgive you

And see the children are starving
And their houses were destroyed
Don't think they could forgive you

Hey, when seas will cover lands
And when men will be no more
Don't think you can forgive you

Yah when there'll just be silence
And when life will be over
Don't think you will forgive you

Yah, you never said a word
You didn't send me no letter
Don't think I could forgive you

See our world is slowly dying
I'm not wasting no more time
Don't think I could believe you

Yah, you never said a word
You didn't send me no letter
Don't think I could forgive you

See our world is slowly dying
I'm not wasting no more time
Don't think I could believe you

Yah, our hands will get more wrinkled
And our hair will be grey
Don't think I could forgive you

And see the children are starving
And their houses were destroyed
Don't think they could forgive you

Hey, when seas will cover lands
And when men will be no more
Don't think you can forgive you

Yah when there'll just be silence
And when life will be over
Don't think you will forgive you

From:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lillywoodtheprick/prayerincrobinschulzremix.html


The fact that it's so unclear who is speaking to who in this song is part of what makes this song so perfect. Is it humans talking to humanity? Society talking to society? Humanity talking to God? God talking to humanity? It's all of the above. And that's why it's really about internalizing God.

I am in a place where I can hardly tell the difference between myself and God anymore. My relationship with God is definitely ending, but at the same time, it is maturing to its greatest deepest intimacy.

It's a confusing place. Why does God allow these bad things to happen? Does he even exist? If he does exist, what's difference does it really make if he just sits there and watches people get screwed? Is it really all just us? Do we have that power normally attributed to God? How do we believe that? Is it by taking responsibility?

Recently I've been reminded of how repetition of can be extremely valuable. When reading, listening, or speaking, like in a mantra, or a song, or poetry, repetition can reveal something about the subject that wasn't apparent before. The words can change meaning, and be very enlightening. In this song there is a subtle but gradual change of words among the repetition that gently brings us from one place in this struggle to another.

Consider the last line of each stanza:

Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think I could believe you
Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think I could believe you
Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think they could forgive you
Don't think you can forgive you
Don't think you will forgive you
Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think I could believe you
Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think I could believe you
Don't think I could forgive you
Don't think they could forgive you
Don't think you can forgive you
Don't think you will forgive you

It evolves in two cycles from "Don't think I could forgive you", to "Don't think you can forgive you", to "Don't think you will forgive you".

It's saying, I want to live in love, but who do we blame for this? Who do we forgive for this? I want to know who is responsible so that I can forgive them, grieve, and get past it. Is it you? Or you? Is it God? But whoever it is, I don't think I can forgive them. I don't think anyone can forgive them. I don't think they can forgive themselves. But we have a responsibility to forgive. And what if its God we have to forgive? The concept of forgiving God? That's a role reversal liken to inheriting the mind of God. And if it's God talking to us, have we failed on our responsibilities he has left to us? And if so, then that means he gave us the power to fix it--a God-level capability. The more you grow with God, the more authority and responsibility he gives you, and the more he imbues you with the mind of God--a mind of truth and love. At some point God becomes so integrated into you that you never have to look outside yourself to find him. And at that point, is there really a difference between you and God? Especially if you are in earnest? So have we put this responsibility on ourselves, believing in some way that we could save those children, but we didn't? It makes God kind of redundant. We would not have put that responsibility on anyone or anything, human or God, if we didn't believe success was somehow, some way possible. And how could we believe that if it wasn't in us to do it in the first place? I don't know how we ever got separated from God (actually, I have a theory), but this song is making an effort to bring us back together. To answer if it's us, society, or God... it's all of the above, all at once.

This song is asking society to figure out how to believe in forgiveness without believing in an external God separate from who we really are. It's asking us to figure out how to forgive ourselves so that we can become true sources of love, and maybe have real peace in the world. Because I think forgiveness is the first big step toward becoming our own Gods, and then we can create the world we really want. But before we can fully forgive, we have to fully take responsibility for everything.

I'm not wasting no more time, means I'm not going to wait around for God to do it for me. I'm going to do it myself, and God can either help me, lead me, or get out of my way. The speaker is completely taking responsibility for the situation, and abandoning any idea that she is waiting around for an external God's help. In abandoning God, she's also abandoning the idea of an external God; abandoning her belief and faith in it. She's abandoning her old self that thought the real God power was outside of her. Because it was God who abandoned her needs and those children's needs. And in taking that responsibility, she's reclaiming the power and authority of God--her true creative power--within herself, and actually coming BACK to the real God and the real truth in a very real way.

All of that is converging together in a way that I can barely explain. But the song itself nails it. The song itself is that convergence. Good music is truly magical. A good piece of artwork is a channel that collects energy unto it, takes you through a transformative process, and releases the energy back to you. Art is communication in context. And this cultural context is perfect for this song.

All I can conclude for sure in this is that responsibility and forgiveness is a very strong common thread, and it seems like the end of this convergence is a "conversion" to a sort of athiestic spirituality, where we recognize and unify with the God within us in a more real, quantifiable way than we ever have.

This is a sign that our society is starting to internalize God. It's a sign that it wants to--we are thirsty for a spiritual revolution. Songs like this are opening the door allowing us do that.



See Also:
How to get rid of a song stuck in your head

Will Quoting Scripture Make Christianity Irrelevant? Not Exactly

In response to this article. I somewhat support it, I just disagree with the headline. I think the pastor has his head on straight.

I don't think Christianity will be irrelevant if it continues quoting the bible. I think it will be irrelevant if christians continue quoting it to nonbelievers, or quoting only the parts that contribute to the point they're trying to make instead of just trying to understand the whole and contribute to a larger effort to understand the truth. So often do they forget that Moses and others argued with God and actually convinced God to change the plan. Or how about the entire new testament? Or maybe they haven't even finished the old testament. As long as it's about ego instead of truth, it's not doing any good. Nobody likes it. Even christians don't want any part of it. Even bigoted argumentative christians--the ones who do this--don't like it. Nobody knows everything there is to know about anything. Until Christianity in culture becomes a symbol of that concept, it's screwed in America.

Closed minded arguments are significantly different from open-minded debates. A skill this country is lacking, that the church could be leading in by example. Instead much of the church tends to empower hate, fakeness, and blind belief. But we can't say anything about it because they do it "in the name of love". If it's not in the name of truth, it's not truly in love.

You can't browbeat people with scripture. Jesus loved everyone. He only spoke about scripture with the rabbis. And when he did he mostly only asked questions. Idk why this is so hard to understand. You can talk about the bible getting jacked with over the centuries all you want, but that stuff is still there.