This is very painful to watch – VERY PAINFUL – just giving you the warning but here is Yoko Ono singing. Now I know what you are going to ask, where is the good laugh?

At 1:31 seconds into the video the look on the man’s face playing the violin says it all – it’s a great look and will make you laugh. It’s a close up, so you won’t miss it!

I’ve said this exact thing for about two years now – to think that humanity has the ability to impact the weather so drastically in only 100 years is completely arrogant.  Thing is, I’m really no one… so why would anyone listen to me?

Would you listen to a CNN meteorologist who has been at this for roughly 22 years? (via hotair)

We only have roughly 150 years of meteorological accurate data on record and have no really ability to draw significant trend lines tying climate change to any one specific thing.  

Now I am not saying that we shouldn’t be treating this planet with the respect is deserves.  Yes, we need to cut down on the carbon emissions.  Yes, we need to remove chemicals from the air and water.  Yes, we need to find renewable sources of energy.  I mean, really, do you drop a steaming load on your kitchen table and then eat off of it?  No. So, why not take care of where you live?  We need to take care of our environment because this is where we live, and we only have one earth that I am aware of.

The world has been around for 4.5 Billion years, humanity a good 5,000, and to think humanity is changing the environment that drastically is truly arrogant.  I’m not denying climate change, I just do not believe humans are the cause.

We knew it was going to happen, it’s not like there was any question is GMAC was going to become a bank. If they did not achieve bank status GMAC would have gone into bankruptcy, which would have meant that GM would have not been able to obtain credit for consumers through any other source.  

Get it?  

If GMAC went down the tubes, GM would have followed.  The second GM received their “loans” GMAC was almost guaranteed to receive bank status.  It is all tied together.

So why does the Fed continue to work with their head up their collective asses? GMAC lost roughly $5.5 billion during the first 9 months of 2008 and major losses are expected moving forward. The additional $6B provided by the TARP funding will only allow the company to operate for a few more quarters.  

Maybe that was the intent of the government – put GMAC into a position where they can support GM until the new administration is in office, and where the new government has the ability to implement their own bailout. 

Frankly, I don’t understand how either GM or GMAC make it out of 2009 without going into some form of Bankruptcy restructuring.  They are both bleeding money like there is no tomorrow, the government continues to prop up businesses that should be failing on their own.

Anyone care to bet?

While I only started blogging once again in August, I’ve had a number of posts that I am very, very proud of. SixUntilMe did a year end round up and I thought, you know, that is a great idea.

Here are the posts I am most proud of – by month.

August – e*trade Bank – Think Long and hard before you use them

September – When did obesity become an epedemic?

October – America the beautiful

November (4) - It’s not about you, Thought experiment – Let’s say Gerald Celente is right, I will miss him, The “Right and Wrong” Paradox

December (3) - Thinking about the happiest time in my life, Why do we feel this way, I have a problem with this “reporting” from the AP

Thanks for joining me on this journey…

This one is coming to us from TechCrunch.  It looks as it as if Apple will be releasing a large iPod touch in the Fall of 2009.  The screen is expected to come in at either 7 or 9 inches.  

I have to ask – why?

We all know that Apple rumors are all over the net, some come true, others not so much, however, TechCrunch seems to be very sure of this information.  But I don’t see what niche this product will fit.  We already have an iPhone and a iPod touch, why would people move to a large ipod touch?  I also don’t see why a person with an iPhone would also purchase another iPod touch (and a large one at that) unless they needed/wanted even more space to hold information.

The only potential market I can see is Apple deciding to push the iTunes app store and creating “must have” applications that will only work on the large iPod touch.  But if that is the case, why not simply release an Apple tablet?  Wouldn’t the logical next step?

Ok, I have very, very low hopes about this movie mainly because it was Tom Cruise.  To me, when I see Tom Cruise in a part – I see Tom Cruise – I do not see the character he is playing.  I have the same problem with Ray Liotta.  However, in Valkyrie that was not the case…

What surprised me the most about the film is the cast, we are talking about a great supporting lineup. Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard were all superb in their roles. While Branagh, Izzard and Stamp do not get huge amounts of screen time, when they did have the focus they made it count.  At the very end, when Branagh’s character decides to pick the option he did (not giving anything away for those who will see the movie), I believed every moment… I actually felt the tension.

Bryan Singer, the director – and of Xmen fame – did an OK job at recreating World War Two Germany.  While the sets where limited due to the story, it was believable. I was impressed with the design and layout of Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair.  Being a fan of history it was nice to see that some attention was given to the detail of this set, from bunker design to sidewalks, the design represented what the area looked like – not a Hollywood version of what they thought it would look like.  

What I did have a problem with, however, was the lack of swastikas on the troops – specifically the German Officers. Instead of military wearing arm bands, we had the military walking around in Gray suits with the swastikas turned into a nondescript pledge pin.  The whole point of the swastika was to remind the German people who they were, removing this vital aspect of history almost makes it feel as if Singer is trying to remove the Nazi aspect from his version of history.  This is a dangerous road for Hollywood to travel because it has the ability to lead to revisionist history.

Speaking of history, the movie was hit and miss.  Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, Cruise’s character, had attempted to kill Hitler 3 times before – not once.  Also, the number of assassination attempts listed by the movie, in total, is low.  There were 42 known attempts on Hitlers life. 

Others have complained about the fact that no German accents really showed up in the movie, and I have no problem with that. Let’s face it, this is no “Saving Private Ryan”.  We all know how the story ends, but what the movie does a good job at doing is putting the tension into the story.  It also makes you question “what if” a few people made other decisions.  

Overall, a good movie.  I’ll go 7.5/10

Cute, but a devil.  Make no mistake…

Beyond Meds and invincible summers both had this video up yesterday, and it raises some very good questions in my mind.

This video is of Dr. Peter Breggin, an American psychiatrist and author, who argues that the side effects of psychiatric medications usually outweigh the potential benefit the medications can provide. Obviously, his views go against the mainstream and can be seen as controversial by some.

Take a look…

Right off the bat, here are the questions that come to mind…

1. How do doctors say a person has a “chemical imbalance” if there is no way to test/measure for it before taking a medication?
2. Animal testing shows that drugs can change the brain chemistry, who is to say that the new chemistry is “right”?
3. Is depression, or “feeling hopeless about life”, simply a psychological or spiritual issue?
4. Do people who come off of antidepressants feel bad because off the depression or because of withdrawal because of the medication?
5. Can depression simply be solved by “finding the courage” to live?

As I see it, “depression”, just like any other behavior, is primarily caused by thoughts, by a person’s mind(set), which in it’s turn again is the result of this person’s life experience and conditioning.

Now. the question is whether you are your thoughts, or your mind, i.e. whether you are what the world has made you be. Or whether the true you maybe is something completely different from and far beyond that.

I’ve wondered how useful a Twitter search engine would actually be, and I would have to say (much to my surprise) it’s quite useful!  

Twithority ranks search results by highest ranking users first and by most recent tweets by the top 10,000 Twitter users. I ran a few test and found a number of things I wouldn’t have expected, nor ever would have thought of to search for in the first place.

Kinda sweet.

This is an outstanding article in the Washington Times – Great Depression witnesses remember.

What I find very interesting is how the people interviewed view now vs. the great depression – times were hard then but happiness was abundant, it seems…