At work I have a two monitor set up. As a graphic designer (or any artist-type), having a monitor to work on and a monitor to put your palate/tools on, makes life much, much easier in today's world of increasingly complicated graphics programs.
Down in the lower corner of my second monitor I amuse myself by listening to videos while I work. I blazed through the whole 3 season run of Lost, for example. I had already seen them on TV two or three times each, when they were first aired, but hadn't seen them since. I didn't need to watch as much as just listen (so it wasn't too distracting) and I enjoyed "viewing" episodes I hadn't seen in a while (especially in light of this season's awesome ending.)
Once those were done, I began "amusing" myself with youtube, centering on 9-11 conspiracy theories. Now, that subject matter is deep and I'm not going to bore you with it here. I will say that while I don't dive headlong in these things, I do like researching stuff like this from every angle.
For example, I researched the first Kennedy assassination for a since aborted fiction project and came away with three shelves of books on the subject. I have my favorite Oswald acted alone book (Clase Closed, my favorite wack-a-doodle conspiracy book (anything by Jim Marrs) and even a book that says it was basically an accident (the head shot, anyway; Mortal Error.)
I'm not sure what I believe. Even if it happened just the way the government said, the investigation was fucked up in all manner of ways. For the Warren Commission, Johnson put in Republican Skull and Bonesman Gerald Ford and a man that Kennedy had basically fired and tried to destroy his former "company" (Alan Dulles, former head of the CIA), so that couldn't have been impartial.
Anyway.
For the 9-11 stuff, again, not sure what to believe. It was absolutely used as an excuse to get into an illegal war. I do know that any laws in existence on Sept 10th would have stopped it (assuming it was done the way they said) if people would have been doing their jobs. It was absolutely a failure on a sitting President, acting Mayor, some CIA guys, Rice, and even some airport workers. I do believe some people should be in jail who aren't.
But the whole "was it demolitioned", "did a missile hit the Pentagon", etc, etc; not so sure about. I do know that tons of footage exists (especially in the Pentagon case) that hasn't ever been released. Footage that could bury (or confirm) some things immediately and once and for all. There are a ton of very legitimate questions that aren't being asked because of the "holy" nature of the act/events.
The sacred cows.
On a quick side note, speaking of which, this week Richard Jewell died. The man that actually committed the crime Jewell was accused of is Eric Rudolph. If you want to see a great example of how the media subtly fucks with us (and an example of a scared cow), read the Rudolph story again, carefully.
Now, it's easy to pick on Fox News, but that's an AP story and it wasn't the only example. Eric Rudolph said to be a "domestic terrorist". He is said to "hate the government". Rudolph "portrayed himself as a devote Christian."
What Rudolph is, is a Christian Terrorist, period.
Same as the fuck-nut that bombed Oklahoma City, same as any number of the anti-choice fuck-nuts that bomb clinics or murder doctors. Christian Terrorist. They same way the hijackers/al-Qaeda are "Muslim Terrorists". Or Radical X Terrorists or Fundamental X Terrorists.
Did you ever read "Mohamed Atta portrayed himself as a devote Muslim"?
Of course not, because "Christian Terrorist" is a sacred cow.
One article didn't even mention Rudolph's ties to Christianity. Only to his hatred of abortion and gays.
Anyway. Another sacred cow (specifically regarding 9-11) was one I participated in: images of people jumping from the towers. I didn't want to see it. Had no desire to watch them fall, absolutely didn't want to see them land. I wasn't alone.
But, all sacred cows need to be pushed over.
The aspect of people jumping from the towers became instantly taboo. Perhaps the only taboo thing about the event (other than asking questions like why no actual proof of Bin-Laden's involvement exists other than a shitty, probably faked video.) Both the actions themselves and even talking about them, set people all red faced. The problem was, it started to be forgotten or ignored. And that's bad.
Well, a great article was written about it in Esquire, a couple years back, revolving around what's been known as the Falling Man photo.
If you're annoyed I didn't spoiler it, see Sacred Cow, above.
Since then, a documentary has been filmed and shown in every country but the United States. It's finally airing on Discovery Times, September 10th.
It is a fucking excellent documentary and it is well worth the hour of your life. No gore, no conspiracy theories. Just a great examination of both the actions of those desperate people and the more shameful actions of those who ignored them.
For those with no patience or access to Discovery Times, here is the You Tube link:
The Falling Man
Here is the link to the original article. I recommend the documentary first, but I'm visual that way.
The Esquire Article
Anyway.
Down in the lower corner of my second monitor I amuse myself by listening to videos while I work. I blazed through the whole 3 season run of Lost, for example. I had already seen them on TV two or three times each, when they were first aired, but hadn't seen them since. I didn't need to watch as much as just listen (so it wasn't too distracting) and I enjoyed "viewing" episodes I hadn't seen in a while (especially in light of this season's awesome ending.)
Once those were done, I began "amusing" myself with youtube, centering on 9-11 conspiracy theories. Now, that subject matter is deep and I'm not going to bore you with it here. I will say that while I don't dive headlong in these things, I do like researching stuff like this from every angle.
For example, I researched the first Kennedy assassination for a since aborted fiction project and came away with three shelves of books on the subject. I have my favorite Oswald acted alone book (Clase Closed, my favorite wack-a-doodle conspiracy book (anything by Jim Marrs) and even a book that says it was basically an accident (the head shot, anyway; Mortal Error.)
I'm not sure what I believe. Even if it happened just the way the government said, the investigation was fucked up in all manner of ways. For the Warren Commission, Johnson put in Republican Skull and Bonesman Gerald Ford and a man that Kennedy had basically fired and tried to destroy his former "company" (Alan Dulles, former head of the CIA), so that couldn't have been impartial.
Anyway.
For the 9-11 stuff, again, not sure what to believe. It was absolutely used as an excuse to get into an illegal war. I do know that any laws in existence on Sept 10th would have stopped it (assuming it was done the way they said) if people would have been doing their jobs. It was absolutely a failure on a sitting President, acting Mayor, some CIA guys, Rice, and even some airport workers. I do believe some people should be in jail who aren't.
But the whole "was it demolitioned", "did a missile hit the Pentagon", etc, etc; not so sure about. I do know that tons of footage exists (especially in the Pentagon case) that hasn't ever been released. Footage that could bury (or confirm) some things immediately and once and for all. There are a ton of very legitimate questions that aren't being asked because of the "holy" nature of the act/events.
The sacred cows.
On a quick side note, speaking of which, this week Richard Jewell died. The man that actually committed the crime Jewell was accused of is Eric Rudolph. If you want to see a great example of how the media subtly fucks with us (and an example of a scared cow), read the Rudolph story again, carefully.
Now, it's easy to pick on Fox News, but that's an AP story and it wasn't the only example. Eric Rudolph said to be a "domestic terrorist". He is said to "hate the government". Rudolph "portrayed himself as a devote Christian."
What Rudolph is, is a Christian Terrorist, period.
Same as the fuck-nut that bombed Oklahoma City, same as any number of the anti-choice fuck-nuts that bomb clinics or murder doctors. Christian Terrorist. They same way the hijackers/al-Qaeda are "Muslim Terrorists". Or Radical X Terrorists or Fundamental X Terrorists.
Did you ever read "Mohamed Atta portrayed himself as a devote Muslim"?
Of course not, because "Christian Terrorist" is a sacred cow.
One article didn't even mention Rudolph's ties to Christianity. Only to his hatred of abortion and gays.
Anyway. Another sacred cow (specifically regarding 9-11) was one I participated in: images of people jumping from the towers. I didn't want to see it. Had no desire to watch them fall, absolutely didn't want to see them land. I wasn't alone.
But, all sacred cows need to be pushed over.
The aspect of people jumping from the towers became instantly taboo. Perhaps the only taboo thing about the event (other than asking questions like why no actual proof of Bin-Laden's involvement exists other than a shitty, probably faked video.) Both the actions themselves and even talking about them, set people all red faced. The problem was, it started to be forgotten or ignored. And that's bad.
Well, a great article was written about it in Esquire, a couple years back, revolving around what's been known as the Falling Man photo.
If you're annoyed I didn't spoiler it, see Sacred Cow, above.
Since then, a documentary has been filmed and shown in every country but the United States. It's finally airing on Discovery Times, September 10th.
It is a fucking excellent documentary and it is well worth the hour of your life. No gore, no conspiracy theories. Just a great examination of both the actions of those desperate people and the more shameful actions of those who ignored them.
For those with no patience or access to Discovery Times, here is the You Tube link:
The Falling Man
Here is the link to the original article. I recommend the documentary first, but I'm visual that way.
The Esquire Article
Anyway.
i try to read news from other countries to get a better idea of what's going on - while realizing that each country tends to spin their news in their favor.