Groundhog day? Bah Humbug

The fat old marmot got pulled from is hidey hole and perched upon a podium yet again. And with this tradition we are told 6 more weeks of winter.

I hate to be a grump but is this really necessary? I mean I understand the need for culture and tradition and as we all know this is a huge part of American and Canadian culture. Really?? Is it really?

To be honest I have never really understood the importance of such a tradition. Important enough to have a feature film titled after it. So because I hate to hate without knowing what to hate, I did a little reading and I stumbled upon this (source Wikipedia)

Famous predictions and groundhogs
Groundhog Day proponents state that
the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90%. A Canadian study for 13 cities
in the past 30 to 40 years puts success rate level at 37%. Also, the National
Climatic Data Center reportedly has stated that the overall predictions
accuracy rate is around 39%.

Thirty Eight percent? Now I know in the 21 century we take this kind of thing with a grain of salt. But come on, this guy is no weatherman; even they can do better than that. Let the poor beast do what he wants to and that is sleep, eat and shit. Realistically, the times he predicted an early spring he likely only stayed out to take aforementioned shit and then headed back into the hole.

I understand getting out to have a good time, have a little ceremony, and get drunk before noon. But the ground hog doesn’t want to do that. As I said Eat, sleep , and shit. I do not see anything about wearing a stupid hat and marching around being douche bags.

I understand years and years ago there was a need to figure out the length of the winter it meant survival, but I am sure even they just looked outside on or around now and saw if they saw their own shadow.

Then they went and ate a groundhog.

Thought = Madness 3.0

I have decided to change things up a built. Now is a good time as I have virtually no readers. The online diary thing is no longer working for me. So when thinking of a new direction I returned to the original concept of T=M.

Thought = Madness, throughout history our world’s greatest minds have been an eccentric bunch, from Einstein to Socrates, and more recently Chomsky to Dawkins. Earth’s real thinkers were regarded by most of their peers are ‘different’ or ‘crazy’.

The reason for this is twofold, one because the very nature of a great thinker was to question the “Norm”. Look beyond belief and obtain glimpses of things the current ‘realities’ do not allow for. It is this essence that I aim to capture within these pages. Two, a bit of the classic genius syndrome .

I am by no means suggesting that I am one of the world’s great thinkers but instead put forth that there is a little of that greatness in each and every one of us. We are born with it. Unfortunately it is beat from us as we age, and some people choose to shut it off altogether. It is a common perception that imagination is not worth anything but it is that same trait that saves corporations from failure, or countries from destruction. We even have a cliché regarding it.
Think outside the box.

To capture ones imaginings reign them in and use that skill as a tool is one of my greatest quests. To prove my teachers wrong when they question my abilities and claimed I had my head in the clouds. My head was in the clouds because those said clouds are really interesting. Frankly I couldn’t have cared any less to think about the text book thoughts. Those thoughts have been thought so many times that there is nothing else to learn from it. If I ever need to know that information I know it is in a book and ready for me to use. What about the information not yet in a book. Not yet conceived. I think that is where the magic happens.

So the new format will play out something like this:

• Monday – Highlight last week’s comments and respond
• Tuesday - Talk back (Highlight thoughts around the blogosphere)
• Wednesday - No posts (Workday to prepare topic for thought of the week)
• Thursday - Thought of the week ( with homework for readers to formulate debates/ideas on a particular subject)
• Friday - Free thought
• Weekend post – Free Thought

Empty thoughts of an endless mind

My brain hurts. It is too full of imagination.

I have been referred to as a tap with no valve. I think and think about the what if’s… I grew up on it. For years almost the only thing I ever thought about was making life into a Sega master system game. I forgot the most important part of that equation. Me doing it.

Today I still struggle with this. One day I have the best idea, only to have a better one the next day, so I let life pass only thinking about the what if.

I need a valve. Something to throttle the flow or even better let that flow power the underpowered part of me. The do’er.

Can you be my valve?

Another day, another month, another year has gone by.

Interesting the fact that a year can pass in the time you were meaning to write a blog post. That is beyond fade, that is pure and utter death. Well I raise the old Zombie.

A year makes you smarter. It's days filled with complexifications and simplifications it all rounds out to that same old thing. A year. 2008 was a year of change and now sitting clearly in it's wane I ponder the question. What really happened this year?