PonderEthereal

The issue that the movie industry is facing is that people are downloading and trading movies for free. The industry is having more and more difficulty supporting it’s self because fewer people are buying movies and instead are just downloading them.

Howard Stern made a good point today that movies sometimes cost millions to make and if they stop being able to recoup that money through ticket sales and/or dvd sales, they will stop making the good movies because the money to make them won’t be there.

I disagree that the fault is all the downloaders’ though.

First of all, some actors make millions of dollars per movie. Producers, writers etc… they get a pretty hefty pay check out of a lot of these movies too. That’s not to mention all of the fringe businesses who get paid VERY well to take care of all of these posh people. All…

In a previous post about psychic frauds, I mentioned briefly one fraud in which the psychic asks a bunch of questions. I got a phone call from a lady last week complaining about a reader here at the shop and one of her complaints was that the reader asked a bunch of questions. In talking about it later, I really don’t think that some people realize how subtle that can be sometimes.

From the moment you meet someone for the very first time, you are both collecting information about each other. It’s what we do as humans. We take in things with our senses and we process it. So when you walk into the shop and the psychic asks how you are doing and you respond, there is already a little bit of information exchanged. Now, of course, unless you are extraordinarily talkative, probably not A LOT of information was given away…

Intent has become a cop out among newagers and witchkin alike. Along the lines of my previous post about responsibility, I’d have to say that one thing that rankles me is to hear someone say, in response to hearing that what they are doing might not be wise or that they might have caused something negative that happened to someone else, that what really matters is the intent.

Psha… Whatevah.

Intent doesn’t matter one iota, really. It’s your intent that builds the motion and past that, the motion will create a series of reactions that the originator is responsible for regardless of intent. Focus your intent to make sure that your action is completely as on-target as possible before you let fly whatever stone you’re tossing into the pool. But once that stone leaves your hand, intent has NOTHING to do with it. It’s going to hit the water and make…

I understand that to someone new to the whole ‘new age’ scene, a lot of the concepts seem strange and cooky. As someone he has been on the new age scene for over almost 15 years, trust me when I say, some of them NEVER sound anywhere near normal. However, just because a whole lot of it seems strange and cooky and just because some people believe the strange and cooky stuff doesnt mean that you should just swallow ALL OF IT hook line and sinker.

USE COMMON SENSE.

If it sounds strange and cooky, ask questions. If none of the answers make sense, tuck it away for later and go on your merry way. Maybe it will make sense later - and maybe never. But till it does, DONT GIVE UP YOUR MONEY. DONT SELL YOUR HOUSE. DONT PURGE YOUR BODY.

That goes for the freak who is selling you…

Are you a high priest or priestess of something or other? Are you a Master something or other? Do you have lots of certificates of accomplishment of extraordinary spiritual arts?

If so, your life should not be falling to pieces. You should be able to afford your life, you should have functional relationships around you, you shouldn’t be a nervous wreck - otherwise, somewhere, you have fallen a wee bit off target.

Spirituality isnt about ascension or getting ‘higher’ or ‘better’. It’s about learning about your spiritual self. Plain and simple.. it’s about having a relationship with your spiritual self. HOPEFULLY part of that process is to learn to make all of your selves get along and play well together so that you can life a comfortable, happy life effortlessly - in whatever for m that takes for you.

We all have shit happen to us. Being spiritual doesn’t make one…

I have a bone to pick with these screwballs that charge $50-$100 ‘rehoming’ or adoption fees for animals that need homes.

I want a kitten that is in need of a home. No need to be purebred or anything fancy… just a kitten that will grow up in our house and will have a great family and live a happy life.

There are all of these organizations that take in foster animals to find them homes and they all whine and moan and bitch about how expensive it is and about how much they need support. And then the perfect adoptive family comes along (like mine) and they want to charge me an arm and a leg to adopt one of these creatures that is apparently eating them out of house and home.

Arguments for charing the fee :
Screen out bad homes or people who want to use the animals…

“That’s so gay.”
and
“She’s such a witch!”

How many of my straight friends are guilty of saying “That’s so gay!”? C’mon… don’t be shy. I’ve heard you do it. You’re BUSTED. :) Now think… what EXACTLY did you mean when you said that? Why use the word gay? When confronted, one person answered “because… that’s just what you say.”. Unfortunately, our society has not really made a habit of piling nonsensical words into sentences just for the sake of doing it.

Gay means two things… happy and/or homosexual. Let’s assume that you didn’t mean “That’s so happy!”. And because the term “That’s so gay” usually refers to something that is “not masculine or macho”, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that usage of the word PROBABLY came from the fact that it’s defined as meaning “homosexual”.

So… if you’re using a term for homosexual in a condescending way…

The New York Times ran a story about behavior detection officers at an airport who ’screen’ people’s facial expressions for anger, sadness etc in order to try to weed out terrorists.

Aside from the obvious - so much of America’s population are depressed, stressed and worried etc, what about those of us who have a disability that specifically makes it difficult to make our facial expressions match our moods or who commonly have a frowny/grumpy type expression - just cuz?

According to the article, once a behavior detection officer has seen a sad or angry face on a potential passenger, they will take them aside and ask them friendly, emotionally based questions about their trip in order to gauge their mood. Can you IMAGINE how that conversation would go with someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome? A disability in which talking to strangers is damn near painful and the emotional receptiveness and responsiveness is…

I think that those of us with Asperger’s Syndrome are neuroevolved. I made that up. It’s a great word though. To my fellow aspies, please take a moment and apply that label generously to yourself and bask in the warmth of being an evolved being rather than disabled.

It makes most neurotypicals uncomfortable to confront raw, negative emotion. Which is an interesting concept seeing as how I’ve always assumed it was me that was uncomfortable facing raw emotion. But really, its not so much that I’m uncomfortable with it as I HAVE it and experience it without filters that neurotypicals have and I just don’t know how to filter it into something reasonable or sensible all the time. It’s too much for an NT. All of this raging emotion - whether exuberant or angry. Most NTs just flat out don’t like it and would much prefer that I go to…

I grew up in the Bible belt… I lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida until the age of 23. I was raised until the age of 15 in a devoutly Christian home. I did the church thing ‘religiously’ for 15 years. I did Baptist, Presbaterian and Assembly of God. It never fit me.

I became a witch at 15 entirely on my own. I didn’t know any witches at the time so it wasn’t peer pressure. I discovered witchcraft in an educational encyclopedia in my school library - not by reading a book meant to teach about the ins and outs of witchcraft. I was scared of witchcraft because I was always taught that it was bad and evil. At the same time, it didn’t seem really all that bad… in fact, it made far more sense than Christianity. The rest is history.

I tried a youth group…