Ah...

Well, I just spent three hours adding links, fine-tuning the new template, etc. I don't know if you all will like it, but I hope so. It makes my life a little easier, and I think I'll keep it this way for awhile. I've had educational programming on and so I've run the gamut of tarantulas/centipedes (okay, so I'm the weirdo who likes spiders), arson investigations, daring rescues, and feral children.

On the tarantula show, they waited several hours for a tarantula to moult, then filmed it being eaten by a centipede. I just couldn't do this film-nature-without-interfering-at-all. I'm sorry. I know the centipede, lioness, whatever has a right to a meal, but I just don't know if I could do that.

I was talking to a co-worker earlier about something I saw on Leno (okay, I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do when I'm sick). Jay and Harrison Ford were talking about motorcycles. HF had 9, Jay had something like 80.

You know, I'm not saying anything about a person's right to use their hard-earned money to buy what they want. But, it seemed to me that both of these men were a little embarrassed by that. And you know, I would be.

Having 80 motorcycles or even 80 socks is a little obscene, don't you think? On one hand, I guess it's no different from books, or stamps, or other things you could collect. And I suppose there are books and stamps, etc. that cost as much as a motorcycle, certainly. I'm sure both of these entertainers give to charity. I guess part of me just wonders about a society where my city can't even pay a living wage to our police, firefighters, teachers, bus drivers, or sanitary workers--people we depend on every day, and a person can get millions throwing a ball or making people laugh. It's a little odd.

On another note, Harrison Ford was really weird last night--almost creepy. I don't know if he's just like that on Leno or in other interviews, too. He seemed nervous, moving a lot, rubbing his hands on the chair, etc. It made me almost think of Parkinson's or OCD.

My co-worker and I discussed things we would do with a lot of money. I told her about the story in National Geographic about the Dalit (Untouchables in India), and about the little girls who are abandoned, etc. I have to admit, if I was financially stable (not necessarily wealthy, but at least stable), I'd adopt a child, either from here or overseas. I think one of the most important things we can do is make a difference in a child's life, and there are lots of kids out there who are labelled (for whatever reason) 'unadoptable'. They have medical problems, , have behaviour issues, or are older. (I actually do best with kids, say 6-12, so that wouldn't be an issue for me.) I don't believe any child should be 'thrown away'. I'm not sure I have the training or disposition for some types of care, but I wish I could at least pay for someone to get it. I'd like to take a child who'd been abandoned in India and raise her away from the social constrictions they would otherwise have. I suppose some might find that to be somehow evil--to break a child's ties with an original culture or ethnicity. But it wouldn't have to be a complete break. My co-worker said something about the 'Prime Directive'. I said that this was different; humans being treated worse than animals was different than interfering in an alien culture.

I know, as philosophy goes, this is really fuzzy. I'm still working it out. And it's unfortunately likely to be purely academic, anyway.

Well, I think it's time to drag myself away for now.