I recently discovered that our local Fernley library has their own blog. It is nice, simple, and fun. This discovery both excited and depressed me for a variety of reason.
The main thing is the excitement of finding news and events that are going on in the area, especially having to do with the local library. The library is one of those places where deep in my heart I love as a bastion of free-thought and hope for the education of our younglings. It is one of the last places that is not corrupted by advertising or money, but it exists purely for the betterment of us all. I love the librarians that fight whenever governments want them to give out private reading information and habits. They also fight whenever people want to take away the internet and other educational rights. The librarian should be a hero to us all.
The reason that I am depressed is that I do not have a ton of faith in our local library, at least not yet. Since moving to this area I have found that local community events as well as community groups are so closed and cliquish that it has excluded my family from doing much participation. Here is an example: When my wife was pregnant she went looking for a mother's group here locally. She found one, "Fernley Mothers" that was advertised as a group for mother's and their children to meet, play, and just have adult conversations. When my wife called them up trying to inquire they completely shut her out because we were not legally married and we were not Christian. That is fine, it is their group, but do not advertise that you are for mothers if you are actually for "Legally Married Christian Mothers."
There have been other small incidents like this that cause me to become suspicious. I am not judging, I am just tired of finding out that my family, a good and hard working family that loves film, reading, and public radio, are not allowed to play in the local reindeer games because we will not accept their same belief system. It seems like anything else that people do around here revolves around the casinos/bars, which I cannot spend more than 20 minutes. Maybe that is my problem overall.
Do not get me wrong, I will still try to take my little one down to the library with me and try to meet some nice people. I think I am just overly jaded about it all. Since moving to Nevada I have seen an entirely different world from home. I am not saying this is bad, I made my peace with this area awhile ago and although there are a lot of problems, it is not a bad place. It is just different.
The library, which you can follow at this blog: http://fernleybranchlibrary.blogspot.com/, is a great place that needs our love and attention. Please take the time to subscribe to their feed and use them as a resource for knowledge and thought.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
...or Uncorrupt Police at Least...
For those that have not heard, there was a leaked video the other day of a bunch of abusive cops beating the eff out of a 15-year old robbery suspect. If you have not seen the video, please don't. It will only piss you off and hopefully make you sick as it did for me.
This is one of the major problems with positions of power. It is because of crap like this that people have lost respect for police officers as a whole. The police are supposed to love and know their community along with trying to keep the peace. Even if you are the worst of the worst suspect for the worst of the worst crime, you still have Constitutional and Human rights.
Not all police are bad, but not all police are good either. There is a song that this reminded me of called "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by Jeffrey Lewis
. Jeffrey is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and when I am constantly amazed with how much insight he can put into a song. In this particular song he is writing about his feelings of failure as a musician along with insight of other good things to do for the world. There is a line where he says that we should strive to better humanity through a variety of professions, one of which is being "uncorrupt police at least".
That is the key there. Uncorrupt police...at least. As a bear minimum. The police departments tend to hate the officers that work in internal security because they tend to believe that the ISS officers are after them. They are just trying to do their job in keeping the police as honest as possible. This is a noble cause and one of the hardest jobs out there I believe. These officers are under attack and internally threatened by the people that are supposed to be protecting society. It is a sad state of affairs when police get so power hungry that they will do anything to hold on to their status. I recommend an episode of This American Life where they talked about a police officer in Chicago that was under attack by his own unit for trying to keep people in line.
I have known a lot of police officers and most of them were good, or at least were trying to be, but I also know of a long drawn out story about corrupt police in my home town. These police were being fed by the dealers to overlook things. Not one, but three separate privet investigations have told everyone the same thing and even police from other counties have said that they will not work with my home town sheriffs because they are in line with the dealers. This went as far as not to bring justice for the death of a young man, ruled an "accidental death" when all evidence pointed to a savage beating and manslaughter. Those people were never brought to justice because of local law enforcement.
These issues are what cause disdain at power and government. Whether or not it is true, the story lives on and the people due nothing to try to discount it. They just ignore the feelings and will of the people because they have no real obligation to do otherwise.
I am getting upset now and I think it is time for me to stop with this line of thought. Below is the video for the song I was mentioning. Please take note, listen to the words, and hopefully you are as amazed as I am at the amount of, well, just stuff he fits into one song.
This is one of the major problems with positions of power. It is because of crap like this that people have lost respect for police officers as a whole. The police are supposed to love and know their community along with trying to keep the peace. Even if you are the worst of the worst suspect for the worst of the worst crime, you still have Constitutional and Human rights.
Not all police are bad, but not all police are good either. There is a song that this reminded me of called "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by Jeffrey Lewis
. Jeffrey is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and when I am constantly amazed with how much insight he can put into a song. In this particular song he is writing about his feelings of failure as a musician along with insight of other good things to do for the world. There is a line where he says that we should strive to better humanity through a variety of professions, one of which is being "uncorrupt police at least".That is the key there. Uncorrupt police...at least. As a bear minimum. The police departments tend to hate the officers that work in internal security because they tend to believe that the ISS officers are after them. They are just trying to do their job in keeping the police as honest as possible. This is a noble cause and one of the hardest jobs out there I believe. These officers are under attack and internally threatened by the people that are supposed to be protecting society. It is a sad state of affairs when police get so power hungry that they will do anything to hold on to their status. I recommend an episode of This American Life where they talked about a police officer in Chicago that was under attack by his own unit for trying to keep people in line.
I have known a lot of police officers and most of them were good, or at least were trying to be, but I also know of a long drawn out story about corrupt police in my home town. These police were being fed by the dealers to overlook things. Not one, but three separate privet investigations have told everyone the same thing and even police from other counties have said that they will not work with my home town sheriffs because they are in line with the dealers. This went as far as not to bring justice for the death of a young man, ruled an "accidental death" when all evidence pointed to a savage beating and manslaughter. Those people were never brought to justice because of local law enforcement.
These issues are what cause disdain at power and government. Whether or not it is true, the story lives on and the people due nothing to try to discount it. They just ignore the feelings and will of the people because they have no real obligation to do otherwise.
I am getting upset now and I think it is time for me to stop with this line of thought. Below is the video for the song I was mentioning. Please take note, listen to the words, and hopefully you are as amazed as I am at the amount of, well, just stuff he fits into one song.
EDIT: As you may have seen in the previous post, we here have a new writer from the Northern Nevada area named Justin Mason. I want to thank Justin for joining us and he will be posting on a normal basis. Everyone, please take the time to read his works and comment on them. Thanks Justin and I hope you have a good time here with us!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Reflection
Reflection
by Justin Mason on Monday, December 30, 2010 at 1:29pm
A confusing understanding of an image,
with the eyes you can see,
but so blind you can be,
depicting in your mind,
so clear so perplexed,
with the answer so near to affect,
the being,
what you are seeing can be so misleading,
understanding can be so relieving,
perceiving the apparent, appearance of reflection,
can be deceiving.
Justin Mason- 08/30/10
Notes- With poetry, some people can read into its depths, some people relate in other ways, I processed the piece in afterthought, if it has touched you in a way of contemplation- that was the goal.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
IP Exhaustion
Not a full post, just a quick update.
On the sidebar of this page, near the bottom, I have added a widget for estimated time until X-Day. In case you are unclear, X-Day is the day that the internet runs out of IP addresses in the IPv4 system that most of us use today.
There is a plan in place, a system called IPv6 for new addresses in the future, but most people and systems are not set up to handle it yet. We will see what happens when X-Day comes along!
If you want to see more about IP addresses, please visit Wiki/IP_address and if you want to know your public IP, just click this link: http://www.whatsmyip.org/
On the sidebar of this page, near the bottom, I have added a widget for estimated time until X-Day. In case you are unclear, X-Day is the day that the internet runs out of IP addresses in the IPv4 system that most of us use today.
There is a plan in place, a system called IPv6 for new addresses in the future, but most people and systems are not set up to handle it yet. We will see what happens when X-Day comes along!
If you want to see more about IP addresses, please visit Wiki/IP_address and if you want to know your public IP, just click this link: http://www.whatsmyip.org/
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Spread the Word
As a huge fan of comic books and as a huge fan of original graphic novels (See:...the End of a Decade.) I have to report this video for you all. I know that I have readers out there are don't give two shits about comics and the art of graphical storytelling, but I do and at least watch the video for its humor value. Thanks!
It is a fact that while Marvel and DC squabble about who is the top company and sell their supes to every product imaginable, there are a ton of awesome publishing houses that produce wonderful content with art, depth, and a message.
If you have never really read comics or love comics, but what to read something beautiful and creative but don't know what to look for, please comment or email me and I will give you a great reading list along with good publishers to keep your eye on.
It is a fact that while Marvel and DC squabble about who is the top company and sell their supes to every product imaginable, there are a ton of awesome publishing houses that produce wonderful content with art, depth, and a message.
If you have never really read comics or love comics, but what to read something beautiful and creative but don't know what to look for, please comment or email me and I will give you a great reading list along with good publishers to keep your eye on.
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