Things I've Noticed

Presidential Election Endorsement from Things I’ve Noticed for Barack Obama

It has been almost seven years since the Blog Things I’ve Noticed opened its doors (or rather its web pages. )  A lot has changed in that time both for me personally and for our world at large.  But one thing has remained consistent.  The world has not changed my “liberal progressivism” as I’ll call it.  (That’s right, I’m proud to be a Liberal.)  From logic, compassion, and my slowly developing wisdom, I’ve decided that it is the best way for our country to move forward.  And for that reason, the staff at Things I’ve Noticed is endorsing Barack Obama for President of The United States in the election on November 6^th, 2012.  I am staying away from too charts or statistics which can be sliced and diced to make any point.  Rather, I’m leveraging logic and principles to make the case that the re-election of Obama is important to keep our country moving forward.

A lot has been made of the notion that Obama’s spending hasn’t done anything for the economy but many economists point to the fact it did work and it prevented our economy from going into a depression.  Much of the debt that was generated was necessary debt because it made up for the loaning of money that banks stopped doing which had stalled the economy. 

Preservation of All Memories Cheapens The Important Ones

I recently came across some online photos of Hindu wedding rituals which looked amazing and special because they were part of an auspisicous occasion.  Then today I saw a mother across the street taking pictures with her smart phone of her kid.  He was doing nothing in particular besides walking and looking cute.  The five year old just didn’t get it and was not cooperative in posing or smiling.  And it started a whole chain of thoughts for me.  I realized that with the prevalence of cheap and easy photo, sound, and video recording, people preserve too many memories today.  It’s not like the time of film cameras and tape camcorders when the capturing of memories had to be used judiciously.  Digital memory capture is essentially unlimited and free.

Deaths of Famous People Shouldn’t Surprise Us Anymore

Phyllis Diller, Tony Scott, Gore Vidal, Sherman Hemsley, Sally Ride, Whitney Houston and many other people who are household names died this year and it’s not even September.  I fell into the trap of being surprised when I hear of such deaths and then I realized I shouldn’t. 

Quick Quote on Time Number 4

"Time is the only thing we know we have but that we don't know how much we have."

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Guns

"If guns don’t kill people then cars don’t get you to your destination."

+ Atul

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Knowing What to Do When Walking Towards People Is Tough

It’s needed on a daily basis, but I don’t ever remember my parents or any of my teachers explaining to me proper etiquette on what to do when I walk towards people passing in the opposite direction.  I’ve grown up and developed my own habits but there is nothing to validate that I am right or wrong.  In the street, we all pass by strangers.  Sometimes we look at them and sometimes we don’t.  It all depends on the situation, the vibe, and what the person looks like. 

Quick Quote on Labels

"A label is inherently a stereotype."

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Random Acts of Kindness

"Acts of kindness should not be so random."

+ Atul

Getting Grossed Out Is Purely Human

I’ve often wondered why humans get grossed out by things or experiences.  Animals don’t get grossed out (G.O.) but us humans and our big brains do it all the time.  Of course, some people get grossed out more than others and by more things than others.  But G.O. can probably happen to any of us if the gross factor is raised enough.  The senseless TV show Fear Factor is proof of this.

If a small animal lands in a toilet, it does not get grossed out.  It tries to get out of the toilet.  A human in a similarly gross situation might get so disgusted that they would either not do what it takes to survive or be traumatized for life. 

And so we do things like get obsessive compulsive disorders and use antibacterial wipes on everything… every day.  Maybe we as humans know too much.  We know that there are bacteria everywhere although the overly clean OCD people don’t think rationally.  Many bacteria are good and killing good bacteria while making bad bacteria stronger is detrimental to everyone.

Sometimes the thought of a horrendous injury grosses us out.  It’s either sympathy or a prediction of what it would feel like.  Tastes of certain things can gross us out.  The feeling of something against our skin also causes the state of being G.O.  I don’t want to go into details on such things because I might gross you out and that’s not what this blog is all about.  But what is being “grossed out” after all?  It’s an emotional state that warrants some psychological research if it hasn’t been done already.

I’m not sure if being grossed out is any better than being stressed out but the former can surely cause the latter.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Being A Sports Fan

"Supporting a sports team is like a mood lottery."

+ Atul