Stupid, Stupid People!

Water can be purified and saltwater de-salted -and the ice down south can be melted, but even the poorest countries must understand that the fish and the billion little things need the water in the ocean and taking(/ messing with) their water might end up destroying the whole little planet and the animals (including us).

Oh, and STOP EATING FISH! Poor things. Sushi for example is very fashionable now but the poor tuna is almost extinct. I blame Island, Faroe Islands, Japan, US and Canada! Norweigans, at least, are doing SOMETHING to not take all the fish.. Well, do not stop eating fish, it's good for your health, but eat only the fish that are not half-extinct. If you eat less fish some fishermen might go unemployed, but that's the governments job to do...

And a message to our friends in the BIG countries, especially in North America: Don't drive those feckin' cars to everywhere! You CAN actually walk to the grocery. You need so much oil because everyone has to have a car (and if you don't, it's so uncool) and you need to drive everywhere. I know it's a long way from the suburbs to the nearest K-Mart, but walking actually makes you feel good. Half of your fat people would not be so fat if they'd have to walk somewhere occasionally. When I stayed in the US and even in (the great country I admire) Canada everyone looked at me like I was nutty because I wanted to walk the three kilometers to downtown or when I wanted to walk to the park to go jogging. Who the hell drives to the park to go jogging anyway?! They thought I was nutty because I chose to walk to the cafeteria instead of driving to the other side of the campus. I blame the marketing campaigns in the early 50's when they were like "Get a car, the ultimate freedom in the free country"..

Oh, and about the free country of US?... You can't teach any religion in schools because it might offend someone. What happened to the learning thing? You don't have to teach religion in a way they do in sunday schools, but in a more philosophical way. I'm not a religious person and my home wasn't a religious one, but my home country apparently teaches religion in such a way that I found it quite interesting. Why can't you take the religion - stuff as in learning other cultures. Suing everyones ass for everything. You spill coffee on you in McDonalds' and they have to pay you for YOU being an idiot. The neighbors I had in the US were so afraid of saying or doing anything because they were afraid they'd get sued. One guy was so afraid of going to work because one of his mates got fired because he said "It's okay to think and read the manual" when a woman asked a very stupid question. And what about his friend who got fired because he refused to take a hint about working overtime without pay!

... and what about the free speech? I'd probably get sued by publishing this if the US could really monitor what's in the Internet.

And a message to the governments of the greatest oil-consuming countries: START PROMOTING CARPOOLS, PUBLIC TRANSPORT and monitor the ad-campaigns. A family of four DOES NOT need a SUV, they can do well with a sedan. A family of nine, NEEDS a SUV. A family of three DOES NOT. A car doesn't have to be V8 and consume 12 litres per 100 km (2,5 gallons per 62 miles) (and don't blame me for miscalculation, i use the metric system) ..

Even in my own country, looking at the traffic in the morning, many cars have only one passenger, the driver. Because our country doesn't promote it, people are selfish(they don't want to get up 10 minutes earlier to get the buddy who works in the next cubicle) and they are always buying bigger, expensive cars because they can afford an expensive car. Multiple cars in the same family is just overexaggerating.

Let me explain the point of today's whine:

I knew a family of four:

The Dad worked and his commute was about 16 kilometers.
The Older son was at school 3 kilometers from the house.
The Younger son was at school 5 kilometers from the house.
The Mom had her evening classes 2 kilometers from the house.
The swimming hall was 4 kilometers away.
The mall was 6 kilometers away.
The nearest supermarket was 3 kilometers away.
The grandparents lived 3 kilometers away.
The church was 2 kilometers away.

Dad drove a SUV. The mother was a stay-at-home-mom who worked part-timely for a writer or something, so she did her work by e-mail. She drove a SUV. Their older son was almost 18. He had a car because his school approved student parking and it would have been uncool if he didn't have a car of his own. He drove everywhere, even to his best friends' house which was as far as about 100 meters. They drove to the grandparents. They drove to the church. They drove everywhere. They had bikes and inliners but they were rarely used.

Mom stayed at home most of the day, until dinner. After dinner (when dad had come home) she drove to her evening class, in her own car. I walked the same distance every day. Dad came straight home for work and drove the son to his practice but didn't drive his car other than go to his own things on Sunday. They did their shopping every other day, together, Dad driving Mom's car. The family was saving money for a fourth car for the youngest, who "had" to take the school bus. They were something like upper middle class, they had a lot of loan, one for the house, one for the cars and the mother always had to calculate what they can eat. Mom had to visit doctor every month because of her heart and they'd have to pay that bill too and the younger son had asthma.

They were given this advise:

Have only two cars. Mom and sons share the other car since dad is the "bacon bringer".
Turn of the lights when not needed. Turn of the TV, not leave it on standby.
Don't bathe. Take a shower of 15 minutes and turn of the shower when applying shampoo and stuff. Fill up the washing machine (they actually had been washing a few tightie-whities at a time). Stop buying cola, granola bars etc.

The son started to walk to his friends house. The family went shopping every Saturday, plan the week ahead and buy food for the whole week. Mom started to walk or bike to the classes when the son needed the car and she walked or biked to the grocery to get milk and stuff to fill up. Mom lost 24 pounds. Her heart (of course) was doing much better. The youngest son started swimming so his asthma got better.. They were all less stressed. The kids' grades went from C to B+. Mom and Dad were doing much better since mom lost weight, dad had more time to her and to himself, they weren't as tired as they used to and they didn't have to be worrying about the money all the time since they saved in:

Petrol
Insurance
Electricity
Food
Medical expenses
All car related stuff
Rates

They paid what was left of their loans that year.. because of the 15k they got by selling moms SUV and the 10k Mom's mom had left her in her will and the 5k they had saved for the youngsters' car, the 30k in the College fund and the 5k they saved in a year for doing a life-style check-up. The sons started working part time, their pay wasn't big, but they agreed to spending their money to their own needs and stop asking from their parents. Mom&Dad calculated that without loans burdening them they could save the younger kids' college fund wholly by the time it was time for him to apply and they could easily take a loan for the older kids' college.

Sadly I haven't had contact with them for a long time now and I don't know if they took the "American way" again.. But I'm pretty sure that their lives were worse because they had too many cars :) If you happen to be reading this, don't get offended. I used this is an example of how your new way should be an example to all the "western countries". It's funny that I forgot the advise I gave you - until last Friday when I thought of you...

Old

I'm 26 today.

Actually, I've been 26 for almost five hours now and the first thing I woke up to this morning was J singing Happy Birthday to me. WHEN I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP! Singing Happy Birthday should be against the law when the one receiving it is either: sleeping, playing or in labor.

Yesterday I realized I don't hate children. I thought I did, but after having a long discussion with a friend of mine I understood I actually hate the parents that allow their kids to behave badly, don't punish them, take them to the grocery store and let them scream and cry there... I shouldn't blame the kids for their behavior, but their stupid parents. PARENTS: DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS TO THE SUPERMARKET if they don't know how to behave. I give ten thumbs up for the shops that offer kiddie stops. I wish there was one for the bad behaving men too...