As IF Times

Source: Climate change is the reason behind bumblebee disappearance –

Of course it is.  Though I’ve tried hard to avoid writing about climate change/global warming yet again, there is an endless flow of flotsam that continues to populate the general news pages on a regular basis.  It’s as if there was a factory in China somewhere that manufactured new kinds of stories about global warming as  they would make cheap garments.

There are very few events in nature today that don’t have some presumed ‘link’ to global warming much like the famous Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation theory.  A recent sensationalist headline warned that oceans can rise 20 feet “in the near future” according to “a study”.  Sea Rise.  If anyone cared to read beyond the breathless headline, they would find that the statistical probability of this scenario’s outcome is very low and only if a number of perfect conditions were to exist.   Nevertheless, the takeaway from the article is that oceans will soon rise 20 feet and we’re all going to die.  This notion is along the same lines of probability of everyone in the world flushing their toilets at once, creating a tsunami of poop that would swamp all cities. In fact, lead author Andrea Dutton, of the University of Florida, said it could take many centuries for a 20-foot rise.  Centuries! 

I wonder if the people who put tourist traps in Venice worried about sea rise when they built it.  In fact, if Venice’s success as a tourist spot is a byproduct of rising seas,  then in a few centuries’ time, all kinds of new tourist traps would be created, obviating the need to go to the expense of travelling to Venice.

As far as bumble bees; well bumble bees pollinate flowers, flowers are pretty and given to girls; girls are happy and therefore they make breakfast for their husbands or boyfriends.  This includes bacon and there’s your connection to Kevin, in less than 6 degrees of separation.

Source: Enough votes to remove Confederate flag, survey shows

I blame Oprah.  Who knew that our dysfunctional society was chock full of offensive and insensitive symbols representing oppression of virtually every subset of society? The confederate ‘stars and bars’ flag is claimed to be a symbol of  slavery and oppression from a long bygone era and as such should be eliminated from public display.  Hmm.  In Oklahoma, a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments is also targeted for removal because of its religious symbolism and therefore offensive to some.  For those not familiar with the Ten Commandments, they describe some of the most basic rules about living in a society; practical things such as not killing others, not stealing etc., perfectly reasonable (to most) and not the exclusive purview of those with religious leanings.

We recall the manufactured outrage over the Washington Redskins name last year when apparently people could barely live with that offensive label.  Somehow they have.  The Outraged and Offended racket (O and O racket) is coming into full bloom with the aid of sensationalist and ratings hungry media and of course the usual endless cast of litigating lizards.

Virtually everything we can think of these days is a Rorshach test of sensibilities, like people seeing evil messages in a bowl of alpha-bits. One can easily interpret the Apple logo as one which represents evil and sin as in the bite taken from the apple in the garden of Eden.  Years ago, the stars and moon in the logo for Proctor and Gamble was interpreted as symbolism for witchcraft and paganism.  What about Underwood devilled ham with the red guy and the pitchfork on the can?

It’s so easy to be offended by something these days that if you can’t find something that offends you, you’re not trying hard enough.  What is most interesting is the bullying aspect of those who are offended by a given issue.  That is, if you don’t agree with their views, you must be a hater.  What if you really don’t care?  Why isn’t that option B? So if you don’t really care about gay marriage, you’re a homophobe.  If you don’t recycle, you’re a polluter.  If you don’t eat organic chickens, you are contributing to cruelty.  If you don’t buy fair trade coffee, you are contributing to oppression in other countries.  Somehow, the self righteous  who universally have IPhones don’t seem too concerned about the sweatshop conditions that exist in the countries that manufacture them.  Or the designer clothes that they wear.

Of course, some people have legitimate claims to be offended.  For example, the husband of Joyce Mitchell, the woman who helped the two inmates escape from a New York prison has every right to be offended since he was actually targeted to be killed in the original escape plan. But, even he forgives his wife.

Unless you happen to be a basket of kittens, you are going to offend somebody and something is going to offend you.  Suck it up. You could be living in the African sub Sahara where you can be offended by a lion trying to eat you.  Let’s be practical and  be offended about  things that really affect us; such as media stupidity and body odor.