Climate Change

After sitting through a two hour lecture/discussion on Climate Change last night I have learned a few key points on the topic. The first being that although geologists know a lot, and I mean, a lot about the earth....it is not that useful when it comes to climate change, because to them a million years is a blink of an eye....Second....there are a lot of crazy people in Calgary, who when given a place to speak, will speak....even if it has nothing to do with climate change. (If you were there, you know what I mean)

Anyway after listening to the many sides of this argument, from the many Scientists and Scholars in the room, I have come to one conclusion, and I even came up with a great analogy. My conclusion is DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHO'S FAULT IT IS? It seems that everyone agrees that it is occurring, so just get on with it.

My analogy (and i think this is a good one)

I site the tragic Earth Quake in San Fransisco, or the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. One could argue that the Hurricane is the result of Global Warming, and if one was crazy enough one could probably come up with some crazy hypothesis about how the weight of the people in San Fransisco caused the faults slip and the earthquake to occur. Now what we really need to understand is, it was not the Earthquake or the Hurricane that caused most of the deaths in these instances. In San Fransisco it was the design of the buildings and infrastructure. Buildings collapsed on people, fires raged, and the city was crippled and unable to deal with the catastrophe. The same could be said about Katrina, it was not the hurricane it was the design of the city, and the lack of preparation to deal with the "effects" of the hurricane.

Now back to Global Warming, can we stop arguing about the "causes" of global warming. It is occurring, therefor it only makes sense that we begin to discuss, and put policy into place, regarding how we deal with the "effects" of that warming. And in this I DO NOT mean, all that Kyoto stuff, to me that is a pollution issue.

What I DO mean, is policy regarding how we will deal on an internationally level with leagues of environmental refugees that will be created by a warming planet.

Will people be allowed to migrate out of areas that will no longer be inhabitable, into areas that are.?

Will we need to revamp our immigration policies in order to prevent wide spread starvation and death. Or will we continue to lock people into areas that cannot support their lives?

Today those people are trapped in Ethiopia, the Sudan and a multitude of other void and arid economies around the world that are unable to support their life. What happens when the USA becomes a "have not" part of the world?

Anyway...those are just my random thoughts on the issue.

The art of salesmanship

Now I am sure most people learn about perceptions at a young age. Like the game of "pass it on" that starts out with the statement "bring home a quart of milk" and after going through 12 people ends up "i am wearing silk underwear". Or when you argue with one of your friends about the same thing, because you think the other is arguing a point they are not actually arguing (did that make any sense? I guess I will leave that up to perception)

Anyway, I have become aware that in my life, some people like to play with perception. They like to manipulate words and conversations to get to their own goal. Its like a fancy game of politics, or some sales scheme. Like when a politician lies to you to get your vote, so you vote for them agreeing with what they said, only to find out it was a bad decision. And then when asked the simply question of whether you voted for them, and thus, in part ,responsible for the eventual outcome, you are forced to answer "yes". "So you voted for him"...."ah YES, but"...."no buts, you said yes.....Your fault"

Sometimes people don't want to hear the buts, they just want to hear the Yes's. In fact everything they say or do, is about getting you to say "yes" to something, so that you own it. They don't accept, "No", because no means that they still own it (whatever it is....could be responsibilities, could be guilt, could be anything). This is how salesmen work especially. Their job is to get you to say yes, even though what you want to say is, "NO, can i go now. I don't want to talk to you anymore" Unfortunately you are never given that option. But sometimes if you just say "yes" you can get away from them and their schemes long enough to keep your sanity.

There is always a way to find out if you have been tricked into owning something that you didn't want. The first thing you have to ask yourself is, "Am I happy with this thing?" If yes, then you probably made the right choice. If you say "no" then more than likely someone tricked you into"owning" something you didn't want".

This trickery is not always straight forward and simple, but usually it involves hiding faults, problems, and general requirements of maintaining the "thing" and accentuating the things "perceived" highlights. In some cases the salesman will even resort to playing on the "perceived" weaknesses or arrogance's, of the person he is trying to sell his "thing" too. This is evident when you go to buy a television, and the salesmen plays on the "keeping up with the Jone's" or if you ask if you can call your wife to discuss the decision, which involves more than yourself, the salesman then calls your manhood into question by asking, "if you are 'allowed' to make these monetary decisions on your own."

These are all tricks, and self evident on the salesroom floor to those who are enlightened enough to see them for what they are. They are not so apparent in the real world, especially when dealing with friends or family member, who might have their own reasons for selling you "something". We don't often think of our friends and family as selling us their "SHIT". We want to believe that they are truly our friends, and are more concerned with our "common good" and not, what kinds of shit they can sell us.

Now this does not only apply to "things", it applies to situations and circumstances too. Sometimes you must also ask yourself, "Am I happy with this situation?" If you say yes, then you probably made the right choice. If you say "No" you were probably duped into a situation you didn't want in the first place. In other words someone "sold" you on their perceptions, their wants, and their needs, over your own. How do we deal with these situations when they arise.

Some would argue that you confront the salesman and say, "excuse me sir, I agreed to own this 'thing' yesterday, but after some deliberation of my own, and after discussing it with my family and friends, it is not the right choice for me". This plan unfortunately puts you back into a confrontation with the salesmen. Of course he is going to tell you that you made the right choice. He is going to walk you through the same "one-sided" logic and remind you about your commitment to "own" the thing in question, which they are trying to get rid of.

Now this is always where the real questions arise. Because it is always the "honesty and the reputation" of the "buyer" that is brought into question when a deal goes bad. For it is the buyer who is trying to get out of his commitment. He has realized his mistake, he has realized he has been duped, he has realized he has been sold something of little or no value to him. And it is never the "dishonesty and reputation" of the salesman. The old adage "buyer beware" ensures that the customer is always right before the sale, and always wrong after. This does not make sense.

Now this blog is getting long, but I felt the need to vent for my sake, and for the sake of all my friends who have been tricked by someone, and now carry that burden on their shoulders. That burden that insist that we are the guilty ones, because we agreed to something that someone sold us, without showing us the fine print. It is especially relevant on Easter, because it was Jesus who said, (in my words not his).

"Enough of the fine print!!! Don't feel guilty...THEY have sold you something in the name of G-d....that the real G-d would never have sold you. You have been duped, and in the end, True Justice will be brought to light, and when it does, it will not be buyer beware, it will be SELLER BEWARE."

Comments from friends are welcome