Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Well, you know how you have the best laid plans to start the new year fresh and then oopsie, something takes you off track? Well I had tried to make it a regular thing to push an article a day. It was a reasonable goal and ambitious. I had been able to do it regularly back 2 years ago when there was a bit of time during January of 2018. A lot of us had been going through an unprecedented 35 day hiatus at the time and many of us also found it as an opportunity to try something new.

Well, it had been a few weeks since posting to our site and come the new year we were making pretty progress with getting a decent headlining photo and subject matter of importance. It seemed like we were breaking news every single day due to nonstop social media bursts of messages and people feedback that made its rounds.

Now that we have an incoming new year and new outlook on everything including politically, hopefully this will be a fresh start. Yes, we still want to post regularly, but as you could see we haven’t posted for 5 days and even the best made resolutions sometimes need a bit of reset. (Plus I was feeling particularly tired the last few days and needed a recharge and reset.)

Here’s some of the major happenings in the last few days. As I like to put it, no news is often good news and the slower we push out articles, the more time we have time to chew and digest it and ruminate how it affects everyone historically in the big picture. Let the major news outlets push out the news and soundbites and all that. That’s what they are good at. We are better at the oddball, niche, weird stuff any ways. Hopefully that doesn’t diminish from the occasionally interesting, trendy, and commentworthy thoughtful stuff that occassionally comes out in the mix.

It was particularly nice to look back at some archived news the first part of the new year and see maybe one or two pieces on our site that looked really nicely made when we first came out. Namely, the shutdown piece was a quite informative piece as we were on the front lines at the time and the news was coming hot and heavy and the article took particular attention to details, was fact driven, and less opiniony and there was ample time to edit that piece over several days. The graphics looked nice, and it also showed various public views and historical context. But the news goes on, and rather than pat ourselves on the back, which it sounds like what we’re doing (probably so!) we have to keep going on to new things coming out as news including tech, health, and many other topics continue to evolve.

While we will strive to always bring the best content we can and with the latest informaton and do copious research, we are no major news network with people around the world covering different angles and topics. Though perhaps one day others will be on the same mission to truth-seek and also aid other like minded individuals seeking to have a smarter, better, financial-free quality of life and join us in our endeavors. If you find a kindred spirit or topic at hand that ignites a spark in you, more power to you and hopefully you will light the way for someone else.

Now on to a few topics of the week.

• Wikipedia turns 20.
  On January 15th, the web encyclopedia that allows global citizens to edit it and change it to be more truthful, reaches a milestone of being in existence for twenty years. It was first created or launched in January 15, 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. It uses a special content management system that allows readers to also make edits to its pages thereby improving articles or correcting mistakes as needed. Many copy cats have come along but none quite as successful as the original. Some of the articles can be protected to keep people from messing up the page, but for the most part the system is open to all. It is a resource often used for researchers and also supposed to be open for all, although there has lately been more solicitations for donations periodically to keep it an open public resource. Many thousands visit this page every day.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.
  This is known as MLK Day sometimes. It’s a federal holiday that’s usually observed by most places and in many that work government jobs. While his birthday is actually January 15th, it is usually observed on the third Monday of January every year. He was a major activist and spokesperson for nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement that helped lobby for better laws at the federal and state level for those protesting racial discriminaton and injustices. This holiday came about after President Reagan signed this into law in 1983. There was growing trend and movement after he was assassinated in 1968 to honor and memorialize his contributions to the global work for equality. It wasn’t till around 1986 though that the holiday was actually observed, 3 years after the inital passing of the law however it still met resistance by many states with different names for the holiday or combining it with other observances. But eventually was widely adopted by all fifty states for the first time in the year 2000. The holiday is said to be a “day on” rather than a “day off” because many will perform acts of service, volunteerism and other acts of kindness to remember the day in honor of the selfless contributions that the Civil Rights leader did to contribute to the equality of all.
• Inauguration. January 20, 2021.
  This is a palindrome day. 1-20-2021 or 1-20-21. Basically the date is the same back or forwards. On this date the U.S. made history with its inauguration of not just one of its oldest presidents in history, but also its first woman vice president with various ethnicities including Jamaican and South East Asian. It was a day that began with a bit of snow but was later punctuated by a burst of sunshine for the rest of the afternoon. The ceremony was different this year due to heightened security and several Nation Guard troops to protect the Capitol. There was social distancing and one of the former Presidents was unable to be there due to just his sheer age, but wished the incoming administration much luck. There was also singing by Lady Gaga, J.Lo, and Garth Brooks. Later a poem read and then a send off to the former V.P. of the previous administation. There were some flag and art gifts presented. There were military processions and also a wreath laying ceremony followed by a motorcade parade and a walk up the the main House. Later on in the evening there was less of the normal luncheon, and inauguration ceremonies and dancing since this year still had continuation of a pandemic. But there were some tributes to workers and other performances as well as some fireworks. It was a mild and humble beginning to a previous term riddled with personal trials, tribulations, constant news and scandals. Perhaps as some has said that they hope they can finally get some sleep.

Though we want to end this article on an upbeat note we will have to make mention that on another note, the conspiracy theorists have started to either see massive cognitive dissonance from having the veil lifted from their eyes, or are too stuck in the mix. Time will tell, but social media and other encrypted messengers show they have been pushed from major platforms and minimized. Now would be a good time to teach your kids and family about the dangers of certain beliefs, fantasies, and cultish thoughts. While many people have grown up with certain belief systems that also have some religious themes, some of these perpetuate into adulthood that have seen arise in paranoia and distrust of basic facts. Or some just troll and gaslight others.

The last few years and days has shown that truth sometimes need to be up front and center to prevent someone getting so disillusioned and spoiled to the point that it affects a person’s reality. Perhaps if someone had just said to Bruce Wayne, your parents are gone and being Batman won’t bring them back, then things might have turned out different. A lot of people have been swept up in the Kool-Aid and wishful thinking that the distortion of reality has been disconcerting especially on social media when some people can’t understand context, jokes, trolling, and others being real. The line blurs and things trend and all of sudden you have a lot of people following your viral paranoia. Cults, Santa Claus, Hale Bopp comets, Jones Town and the latest social media frenzy about politics mixed with religion. It’s just absurd that it’s 2021 and people still perpetuate superstitions, suppress others and educational inequity abounds.

There’s misinformation about vaccines. And even now people will still continue a new odd theory like they did with the Mayan apocalypse and every other apocalypse predictions of past. And people are waving their hands in the air thinking some odd belief for their particular faith. Not saying everything about a faith is bad, but there are a few that give it a bad name.

Be careful out there. 2021 started out weird, but we might be able to turn the corner and be better. Get read and get educated and more empathetic to your fellow man.

Oh and beware of big tech and censorship.

Over and out for tonight.