Perette Barella
The world we live in is crackers. We spend our lives playing with handheld electronic gizmos, disconnected from what's around us. Oil proceeds fund terrorism in the middle east, but instead of moving to new fuels we have Orwellian-style perpetual wars. Under the boss's thumb, we do what we're told so we can keep our meager existences, supplementing income with credit and ensnaring ourselves in debt obligation. CEOs pay themselves $10,000,000 a year; in an hour, they'll make more than I do in 2 months. A day for them is several years toil for the rest of us; in a month, they'll earn more than I could in my entire lifetime if I slaved away coding. They use their earnings to buy politicians and rig the game in favor of the status quo, then tell us it's our own fault we're poor.
The population is unsustainable, but we completely ignore that. We think our own petty interests are important because we seek out like minds on the Internet; lack of exposure to contrary opinion gives us confidence we're right. We dismiss those with whom we disagree by finding a single flaw in their position, and use that to discredit them entirely. We hone our skills at witty put-downs that gain credit in the like-minded circles we choose, even as we lose our ability to explain our reasoning to those with different ideas.
The system is broken, and the problems in it run deep. Although we personally contribute to the problem, individually changing our behavior won't rectify it. Things will not be easily fixed; trying would be tilting at windmills.
But we also live in amazing times: We have easy access to the respository of all human knowledge via a device we carry around in our pocket. We have much liberty to be whomever we want to be. Our lives aren't run by clergy and their fraudulent gods. Food, resources and leisure time are plentiful.
So this advice I impart to you: take care of your teeth because they don't regenerate. Brush, floss, and use a good Listerine knock-off. Wear sunscreen. Take truth to heart, even when you don't like it. Claw your way out of debt if you can, and stay that way. Don't let the capitalists trap you; learn to fix everything and live on little. Don't waste your time trying to change the fools and idiots; they won't listen anyway. Spend your time enjoying life now, because it's not clear how long we're going to have the awesome things we have at this moment.
- More about myself:
- My life in bullet points and pictures (contains some risque content)
- Perette's journal
- About my skills:
- Developer story & Curriculum vitae/résumé—though I'm happy at First Student right now.
- Software creations & thoughts.
- Skills inventory self-assessment,
E-mail Perette • Topic index • Recently changed pages
Social & Political
- Guns & City vs. Country Instead of pointless bickering, let's try to understand why we don't understand one another when it comes to gun attitudes. ( 2251 words)
- Race & Policing in American An allegory for the way policing of Black folk has been handled in America. ( 1325 words)
- Workers vs. Heroes in America Why is everyone a hero in America? ( 1608 words)
- On Coronavirus On the coronavirus and our leaders' response to it. ( 2636 words)
- More Political...
- More Social...
Science & Technology
- Science vs. Pseudoscience: Essential Differences There are essential differences between science and pseudoscience, which are the reason our world has experienced such a deluge of pseudoscience recently-- and will probably continue to. ( 1609 words)
- The State of Linux Linux is still troubled. But faced with Apple's direction, is Linux an answer? ( 4949 words)
- Moving to Android Impressions of Android as I transition off iOS. ( 1781 words)
- An Energy Discussion A fictional discussion with a liberal about how we will power the future. ( 1120 words)
- More Science...
- More Technology & Computing...
Fun & Travels
- Pennsylvania Meander (2020) Exploring Pennsylvania by bicycle in 2020. ( 12345 words)
- New York State Meander (2021) Exploring New York State by bicycle in 2021. ( 173 words)
- Middle Branch and Middle Settlement Lakes Hike (2019) Perette and Paul's 3-day, 2-night hike to Middle Branch and Middle Settlement lakes near Thendara/Old Forge, NY. ( 556 words)
- Adventure Slideshow Slideshow of all my biking and hiking adventures. ( 51 words)
- American Bedwetter ( 397 words) Anticonsumerism propaganda for you (and truth in advertising, too). Great deals on stupid American Bedwetter crap.
- More Fun...
- More Travels...