I made a mistake yesterday – one of the reasons for rebooting this site was to get away from the perpetual bombardment of political content, and I went and dragged it right back. I’ll try to be better about that. It’s not that I want to avoid all political content – the government is fucking us daily and it isn’t a bad idea to stay on top of things, but allowing politics to consume one’s identity contributes to the division of our nation (and world).
But for the record, the Republicans are still fucking us on suppressors and SBRs.
Anyhow, last evening I was still on YouTube after looking up some gardening stuff and saw a recent Charismatic Voice video covered a song I hadn’t heard in years – Living Colour’s Cult of Personality. Now we cult leaders need to stick together so naturally I played it. I won’t go into her breakdown and analysis of the song (you can watch it yourself if you like) but the lyrics from this nearly 40-year-old song still resonated with me:
Look in my eyes, what do you see?
The cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I’ve been everything you want to be
Oh, I’m the cult of personality
Like Mussolini and Kennedy
I’m the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of personalityNeon lights, Nobel Prize
When a mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You won’t have to follow me
Only you can set me freeI sell the things you need to be
I’m the smiling face on your TV
Oh, I’m the cult of personality
I exploit you, still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
Oh, I’m the cult of personality
Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi
Oh, I’m the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of personalityNeon lights, Nobel Prize
When a leader speaks, that leader dies
You won’t have to follow me
Only you can set you freeYou gave me fortune, you gave me fame
You gave me power in your God’s name
I’m every person you need to be
Oh, I’m the cult of personality
I am the cult of, I am the cult of
I am the cult of, I am the cult of
I am the cult of, I am the cult of
I am the cult of, I am the cult of personality
Judge for yourself why they might have hit home again after so long.
Anyhow, I ended up down a YouTube rabbit hole of music I hadn’t heard in a long time and it was cathartic – I don’t think society today gives music enough credit for healing.
A few years back, I had some health issues that necessitated spinal surgery, and a nerve was damaged causing me to live with constant pain. My doctor at the time wanted to prescribe me a particular medication but the insurance company wouldn’t approve it until we tried a few others – well one of the others was called amitriptyline, and that shit is strong. Sure, I felt absolutely no pain, but I also didn’t seem to feel anything at all. Most everything I’m telling you is second-hand because I don’t really remember any of that time, I was a zombie.
Apparently I sat on the couch staring at the wall for hours not moving. I was watching (really just listening to ) Pink Floyd The Wall and my wife noticed my fingers moving like I was playing along. A bass was stuck in my hands and I sat there and played along with the music. A few weeks later (had to do a 21 day cycle) I was off that medication but since then I’ve kept up playing bass again after 20 years away. In my opinion, that new habit has done amazing things with my brain – I feel more at peace, and have a harmless outlet to vent frustrations and such. More people should try it.
Interesting Tidbits
License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows – “The new product development has also led to Flock employees questioning the ethics of using hacked data as part of their surveillance product, according to the Slack chats.”
New FTC rule forces Ticketmaster to display all prices upfront – “Ticketmaster announced that, in addition to the face value of tickets, service charges and facility fees are now included in the upfront costs. However, delivery fees and taxes are still excluded from this pricing.”
Holes in the Constitution – “For 24 years, government spying has been rampant in the U.S., and the feds regularly engage in it as part of law enforcement’s well-known antipathy to the Fourth Amendment.”
Is my phone listening to me? – The authors of this article seem to think not, but that the companies are getting your data in other ways.
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