Censorship, The President, and the Porn Star

Um… how old are we?!!

Are we really going to talk about…

…. Look, this is making me uncomfortable.

I don’t even wanna THINK about him and…

EWWW!!!

Seriously? THIS is how we respond to a situation like this? NO WONDER people are all on-board with secretive contracts and hush money! “But he said the P-word.” No shit?? Wow. A racist old fart said the p-word.

I watch a morning talk show program called “Coffee Joe and the Brew Crew”, I’m not sure if anyone else sees it, but one of the regulars, Donny Deutsch, asked host Mika Brzezinski about sexual abuse in the work place. “Where do we draw the line? Can co-workers still go out for dinner and drinks in a work setting? etc…” and the questioning was, at first, met with anger.

We should ALWAYS hear accusations IMPARTIALLY. EVEREYONE has a right to be HEARD. FEAR and INTIMIDATION should not silence anyone. Ever. And Donny’s point brought me to a couple realizations.

1.) THE SILENCE HAS MIS-INFORMED THE PUBLIC AT-LARGE.

Because of the silence, on all sides for all the various reasons, most people… being a male I will refer to the male descriptors in this, only because I am one… most men are not aware the EXTENT of sexual abuse and sexual manipulation that occurs daily. As I have become aware of it, I realize MANY things I believed were good-hearted or crude humor, were giving COVER to SEXUAL PREDATORS. Giving cover to acts that, if I had been aware of them, I would have pushed to get LAW ENFORCEMENT involved.

When I realized this, I stopped and asked myself “What have I done? Have I done SOMETHING? Who have I hurt?”

No one is perfect. Some of us, when we look back 20 or 30 years, we were kids! Silence has led to misunderstanding and damaged souls countless times. I hope that just the ACT of asking this question, and discussing it with someone you care about, shows where your heart is, and helps answer that question. And those discussions WILL involve topics that will bring me to the next point…

2.) IT IS THE LAW. WE FOLLOW THE LAW, OR WE CHANGE THE LAW.

The law is written to present a CLEAR DEFINITION of what is LEAGAL and what is NOT. When you feel the law has been broken, you should be heard OPENLY and HONESTLY and EVERYONE should PROTECT AND SUPPORT that right. Those who OPPOSE THIS are aiding in a CRIME punishable BY LAW. Equal justice UNDER LAW. And acting as if we are a bunch of elementary school children will NOT SOLVE THIS ISSUE! If we are to open up this horrid, stagnant, backwater to start fresh, level, and anew… It WILL involve talking about subjects that are NOT what we have been led to believe. They are NOT taboo and off-limits… WE ARE ALL EFFECTED BY THEM.

My kids’ favorite book for a while was titled “EVERYONE POOPS”, and yes, it is a work of PURE FICTION! I know only HALF the population seems to do it, for some reason… If it were true, I would seriously, need to SHAVE MY PALMS or get a seeing eye dog. Because you know what they say about guys with BIG FEET, right…. HUGE SHOES. And this one time, The President of the United States had sex with a CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ACTRESS, DIRECTOR, AND SCREENWRITER.

BUT, because we can’t say ‘porn’ without someone cracking a smile on NATIONAL TV, we will never get to the part where the AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR and SCREENWRITER, who is an INDUCTEE IN THE HALL OF FAME, is being silenced by a BULLY and ABUSER. A CHEATER and a LIAR. A man who said he could shoot someone dead and still get elected.

To finally put to rest the issue of INEQUALITY in our society, we are going to have to have some DISTURBING conversations. We are going to have to look at things we might find off-color, or blue, maybe even something that hits a bit too close to home. But UNDERSTANDING comes from COMPASSION. The simple act of LISTENING will heal more that you know. Because it is a start. It opens the minds of people who DIDN’T EVEN KNOW they were missing something. Because if something HURTFUL is happening and I can do something to help, I wanna know.

And I am not the only person who feels that way. EVERYONE should know that, too.

Keep your head UP!!

The Philosophy of carlsagan42

One of my “guilty pleasures” is watching YouTube and Twitch streamers who play Super Mario Maker. If you don’t know, the old school Super Mario Bros video games by Nintendo have been brought together in a very cool way. A suite of tools have been given to the players of this unique game that allow them to build levels, upload to a server, and be played by anyone who owns Super Mario Maker.

With a large variety of SMB items, from multiple classic games, the range of possible level creation is infinite. A brilliantly simple game has now been immortalized and, with only the human imagination as its limit, the wide variety of level design is showcased in Mario Maker via a game mode called “Super Expert”. The game picks, at random, 6 player created levels that have a low clear rate or a low attempt/clear ratio. Beat all 6 levels without dying more than 100 times and you rescue “Princess Peach” from the game’s antagonist, Bowser.

Simple. Right? This sounds simple, until you account for… people. These levels are created by the SAME people who comment on YouTube videos. Who post crappy photos on Reddit. Who comment “nice boobs!” on your Facebook photos. You know, trolls. The insane variable of difficulty in these Super Expert Levels is amazing. I am always humbled by the ability of the human mind to create better ways to torture other humans. Super Expert Level in Super Mario Maker is no exception.

I especially enjoy the puzzle levels that carl plays. Watching a SUPER INTELLIGENT MIND attempt to crack a difficult physics puzzle is fascinating. It can take him HOURS to find the answers, but he WILL find them. He has beaten every level he has committed to. They are ALL beatable. You CANNOT upload a SMM level without first clearing it yourself. So, it is just a matter of “do you want it bad enough?”

I have boiled carlsagan42’s philosophy down as best as I could:

“Within a defined physical framework, with an impartial, finite application of the rules, there is NOTHING the human mind cannot achieve.”

And carl proves it. Especially playing “Kaizo Mario” levels. As he puts it, Kazio is a Japanese word that means rearranged. It was originally called “Asshole Mario”, because of the hidden coin blocks the level designer places in the PRESUMED path of the player. Example, when Mario needs to jump over a large gap, he backs up, runs full speed, and jumps with enough momentum to clear the obstacle… but instead of sailing over the hole, he strikes an invisible coin block and falls straight down, dying. In order to clear the pit, the player is forced to change, awkwardly at times, his approach to the jump in order to not strike the block.

The intricacy of the Kaizo Levels are, at times, amazing.

This “kid”, who has just earned his PhD in molecular biology and works with plants in a lab to find new vaccines, is a speed runner. He has an ability that I compare to playing an instrument. He is the concert pianist of Super Mario. And when someone plays an instrument as if it is an extension of their own body, it can be a beautiful thing to see!

It is NOT easy. It requires practice, patients, and dedication. Passion, confidence, and a sense of pride in accomplishment. To see something to its completion. It is a reward in itself, just seeing a difficult project to completion. And carlsagan42 will say it, too-

You have to fail every conceivable way possible before you succeed. Eventually, after all the practice, and work, and failing, and more failing, you get it right. Then it’s “Easy every time!”

So, What’s My point…

In our government, we have seen every possible way to fail. The most ignorant of politicians, the most corrupt of politicians, the most honorable, and the slimiest have all come and gone. Some fall by the wayside in history with little lasting effect on our Country. Some, like Ronald Reagan, are ACTIVELY dictating how we live our lives TODAY via the Supreme Court.

Hope and change, a thousand points of light, a shining city on the hill, a chicken in every pot… ALL words of men who were out of touch with the REALITY of the MAJORITY of Americans. Herbert Hoover, self-made wealthy man, sought to end hunger and poverty. Believed he could do it in his Presidency. Reagan held up America as a beacon for the rest of the world, then armed rebels with illegal funds in secret and lied about it.

Do we even need to bring up GWB?

Either these men lost touch with their roots, or they had an agenda all along that was contradictory to the goals of the AVERAGE American. Being an AVERAGE American (I presume), I can say without a doubt that the END GOAL of the MAJORITY of AMERICANS is simple- helping to ensure we come closer to that more “perfect Union” envisioned long ago. No one is perfect. No government is perfect. BUT, acknowledging this, and accepting this, we can CHANGE the laws we got wrong. TOGETHER we can move the arrow toward right. So many times we have failed, but we continue to push. We are constantly looking for the missing puzzle piece or the right combination of moves that will bring us closer to the goal.

Maybe not this life, but the next. Each life moves us closer to the Princess. Remembering what we got wrong last run, we can make adjustments and dodge the obstacles we hit last time. Progress has been made. Knowledge has been obtained. We must now apply that knowledge and complete the journey.

Ultimately, life is like Kaizo Mario. A person’s inner light shines brightest when they hit the kaizo block and fall into the pit. Do you try it again? Or do you skip it?

The Princess is waiting….

Kim Jong-un vs. “…Your Mom!”

I am… a giant. At 6’4″, 175 lbs, I stand above everyone. With RARE exception, I can either see over a large crowd unobstructed or my hat (a SpongeBob SquarePants Yellow hat) can bee seen over everyone. I am instantly shocked when someone taller walks into the room. Because it never happens! I have been tall all my life. Tallest in class, tallest in the school. Taller than all but one of my teachers. (second grade, my teacher was 6’1″. I was only 5’6″.) I was the tallest kid in my elementary school at the beginning of 5th grade, but at some point that year, Mindi hit her growth spurt and passed me by a couple inches.

I think that’s the reason I had a crush on her.

When I was in Cub Scouts, around 13 yrs old, my friend Tim’s Mom was our Den Mother. I was 5’6″ or so and a mouthy thirteen year old, and she was as tough as a wolf mother, and not even 4’6″ tall… To my eyes, it was a DRAMATIC height difference. And, being a 13 year old, I liked to… um, kindly reference our differences in height…? (did anyone buy that?)

Right. I would smart off “Oh yeah? What’cha gonna do about it, shorty?”

…. quick aside here. As I write this, I have in my minds eye a scene where I am being sarcastic with Tim’s Mom. I HOPE that’s how it was? I sound like a hell-child writing it out loud! I HOPE that’s how it came across. If not, I guess, Look for my “Apologies and Retractions” section, coming soon!… sigh…

SO, smart-ass me says “What’cha gonna do about it, shorty?” And, bless her heart, all four-foot-nothing walks right up to me, serious as can be, looks me in the eyes and says “No matter how tall you get, I can ALWAYS stand on a chair.”

boom.

She was a wonderful woman. Very caring, loved her being our Den Mother. So she had earned our respect, and each of us tried to show it. And we had seen he grab Tim’s ear a time or two, so we knew NOT to piss her off!

I could not think of a better person to be engaging overseas with aggressive foreign leaders on behalf of the People of the United States. Honestly, who could make decisions that reflect the overall wellbeing of the ENTIRE US better than “…Your Mom!” I would say, in fact, IF Tim’s Mom were to run in 2020, that would be the ONLY possible opponent I could not defeat.

After all, she could just stand on a chair.

YouTube video uploaded

I think it turned out VERY well. I hope you agree.

Busy morning! Kids made it to school, three stores to hit today. Grocery getter extraordinaire! And its raining, so traffic sucks. Mondays are fun.

I’m going to attempt a daily post here and, hopefully soon, start a livestream each day on Twitch.tv/mrcharbonneau. I need to assess my livestreaming tools to see what I can or cannot do. I don’t have much cash available for cameras and mics, so I’ll see how this laptop camera looks. BUT, that will be another day.

Be sure to check out my GoFundMe and Patreon. I’ll keep going if there’s an appetite for an independent, funded by THE PEOPLE, to change the ELECTION SYSTEM. That’s the question, how to pay for this. I’m a stay-at-home-father of two with a wife who is a PICU nurse. (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit… actually CRRT nurse. She specializes in hearts and circulatory… but anyway) I am pretty much doing this on my own as a SECOND JOB.

A second job that I don’t want right now. Don’t have the funding for. Will, in essence, be DOING FOR FREE. Will have a 1:1,000,000 chance of success. And will be the most EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY trying thing I’ve ever done. In 2016 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I’ve been learning how to diabetes for a couple years now, and for the last 365 days I’ve been successful at not dying! Last year in March I caught an atypical pneumonia, my blood sugar was over 500 and was in the hospital for three days.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me. Seriously. It got me to focus for three days on what I needed to do. Scary, yes. The family was scared, too. Pneumonia sounds horrible! No fun at all.

But, just another reason to change this country for the better. Having a terminal illness sharpens the mind, forces one to ensure priorities are in order. I’m only 39, but I know how I will likely die- “complications due to T1 diabetes”.

…that or “random bus”. Details. whatever.

Keep your head UP!!