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Tag Archives: controlled

Leaving Las Vegas (too)

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by Bob in myCulture, myLifestyle

≈ Comments Off on Leaving Las Vegas (too)

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1 corinthians 13, 1934, aa, accomplished, acting, actions, afraid, alarming, alcoholic, alcoholics anonymous, alcoholism, angel, anger, article, awakening, baffling, banned, behaviour, being, belongings, ben, big book, bill w., black hole, blog, body, boy, capacity, cheat, choice, claim, cleaned, community, condition, condone, conquers, control, controlled, corrupted, cure, damaged, dangerous, dark, death, decisions, dedicated, degrees, desire, desperate, destruction, deterioration, devastated, diet, direction, discussion, dismembered, disturbing, dr. bob, drink, drinking, edition, eliminated, endure, entertainment, entice, evade, examine, experience, fail, family, fantasies, fight, fire, founder, garbage, gas, god, harsh, hauman, healthy, history, hope, human, impossible, incurable, instances, instinct, internet, intervene, jail, job, kill, lacking, las vegas, leaving las vegas, life, live, living, love, loved, lovenever fails, lurk, magazine, manage, manifest, mind, mission, movie, mutilated, news, numbing, overwhelm, painful, paradoxically, path, people, person, personal, pets, poisoned, post, power, prevail, questions, radio, re-offend, reconsideration, recovering, recovery, relieved, remark, reminders, replies, response, road, saved, scenes, science, segment, self-destruction, self-inflicted, self-plunder, sera, sick, situation, snapped, social media, sought, soul, spirit, spiritual, struggle, subsequent, suffering, survival, survive, tough, tragic, treatment, trigger, uncontrollable, vegas, vortex, watched, weeks, willingness, woman, writing

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In the days following my viewing the movie Leaving Las Vegas and the writing of the article post for this blog, the movie continues to stir my mind. I see Las Vegas as a place that actually condones and even supports those who might wish to throw themselves into the vortex of human self-plunder. I don’t know for sure; I have never been there and have never wished to go. It seems a place I might lose control. Sure I would love to see all the wonderful entertainment, yet I know that Vegas is designed to entice one into what can easily become a black hole for some.

Somethings have peaked my interest in this movie. Almost daily I hear of those tragic human situations where someone is out of control. I hear talk about those dark notions that seem to lurk in us all and surface in some manifesting in disturbing behaviour. Only yesterday was a discussion on the radio about a woman who mutilated and dismembered pets and is now out of jail living somewhere in the community. It is known that her treatment has not worked and that she will likely re-offend. She was banned from using the Internet, yet managed to post some remarks on social media sparking alarming replies from others who have dark fantasies that they would love to experience, but are also afraid of acting on those desires.

I just watched a portion of a news magazine segment about a boy who simply could not control himself or be controlled. There seemed to be no way to keep him from some dangerous behaviour.

What is it about some people that drives them to destruction? Why do some people seem to be incurable and must live with certain conditions somehow contained, but never eliminated?

What seldom seems to be considered as a primary way out is to treat the human spirit—the only place within a human where true hope may be found. In 1934, two desperate alcoholics met, found recovery and discovered: a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our lives; b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism; c) That God could and would if He were sought. —From Alcoholics Anonymous (Third Edition) (The Big Book) page 60.

Alcoholism has devastated lives throughout human history and still does. It is an example of a human condition to which there seems no cure. Even alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) refer to themselves as ‘recovering.’ There are other human conditions that seem to evade the human cure.

What the founders of AA discovered is that, where human efforts and science fail, God can prevail. For Ben in Leaving Las Vegas, the desire to live and the willingness to step onto a spiritual road were completely lacking. How could this be? Isn’t it a basic instinct for any life form to survive? It seems that it would be very difficult for any living being to endure a self-inflicted slow death and not have some sort of survival response. How does a human lose all hope and become dedicated to a path of self-destruction?

The seed of human life is corrupted. There is a part of each and every one of us that has the capacity to lead us into self-destruction, whether we realize it or not. Examine your life and you will spot instances of actions that might be less than the best choice. How many people go on a diet and never cheat? Who can claim to have never said anything harsh or in anger? It is impossible. For some people the fight for the soul where one makes the decisions about their actions is a struggle that can sometimes overwhelm. All it take is a certain situation that can trigger an uncontrollable response. For one person, it might bring a harsh word; for another, it might cause them to pick up a drink. If they are an alcoholic, this could kill them.

Obviously, Ben snapped when he lost his family. He snapped and lost control. His mind changed direction 180 degrees. When he was let go from his job, he was told that they sure liked having him around. Instead of involving some sort of reconsideration response and a subsequent change in his behaviour; this only poured gas on the fire. In one of the next scenes, he has cleaned out his house and is pouring gas on garbage bags of personal belongings, reminders of his family. It is then that he heads to Las Vegas—down the road of destruction. Where was the hope he could continue to live without his family?

It is said that love conquers all. 1 Corinthians 13 states, “Love never fails.” So what happened to Ben? Sera loved him and he loved her. He called her his angel. His body, soul and spirit were so damaged that there was little left to save him. Death and a way of drinking, as Ben called his mission, must have been difficult and painful. The body becomes very sick. That he accomplished his mission in weeks probably means, rather than a slow deterioration of his body, mind and soul, that he poisoned himself and his relatively healthy body with the alcohol numbing him.

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Where were those who might intervene? Would it even be possible to intervene? These are tough questions for a situation such as Ben’s. Whether short-termed or long-termed alcoholism is baffling. Still one never knows when a spiritual awakening might occur, so one must always be there for those who struggle and never give up. That the one there for Ben was Sera who was also in a struggle should not have mattered. Often two who are suffering can paradoxically help each other. Bill W. and Dr. Bob are perfect examples and the result not only saved themselves, but countless others through AA.—a true spiritual awakening.

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Chip cards, digital signatures — more secure?

25 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by Bob in myWhys

≈ 1 Comment

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acceptance, accounted, adopted, angle, authentic, banking, bursting, business, buttons, cashier, charges, chip, chip cards, compromised, controlled, convenience, converting, convinced, credit, digital, digitized, dummy, electronic, exchanges, exercise, expire, eye, face-to-face, failure, financial, fingerprint, guards, hand, hectic, idea, instructions, iris, keypads, left-handed, lifestyle, lives, logic, machine, mastercard, monetary, name, online, opt, pads, paper, people, personal, phone, pin, plastic, questions, recognition, safer, school, screen, scribbled, secret, secure, sign, signature, society, stealing, stolen, stores, systems, technologies, terminated, test, ubiquitous, version, wallet, write, writing, written

A few years ago, I began to hear about the new secure chip technologies. They were coming soon. Just like with online banking and other online monetary exchanges, I could not for the life of me see how they could be secure. I vowed, with online banking, that I would never submit to the activities. I did the same with the idea of using chip cards.

It is turning out to be an interesting exercise to watch how these new technologies are adopted and become ubiquitous in our lives and society. It is like we are being controlled—that we can be convinced to do almost anything. Was it the extra charges for using personal, face-to-face banking or simply the convenience in our ever growing hectic lifestyle that has swayed us into acceptance? Online financial activities are so common now that hardly anybody questions the security aspects. Why don’t we hear more about the problems with electronic financial exchanges?

So, what about chip cards? I wanted to hold off as long as possible, but, credit cards are a different ball game than something like changing the way you do something. Credit cards expire and then you have no choice. But wait, some were too eager to get me using the new chip technology.

One day, I received a phone call from MasterCard stating that my card number, a number I had for about 35 years, was within a range of numbers that they said “might have been compromised.” They had simply gone ahead and terminated my card. I had to cut up the card and I would receive a new one within two weeks. What was I to do in the meantime, I asked? No card! And, you guessed it, the new card was a chip card. I used it for a few weeks and then it expired and I got a new one. Go figure!

So, I had a PIN number to look after now. The first time I used the card, I must have seemed like a dummy. “What, I don’t have to sign? What is safer about that?”, I asked. Soon, I learned that usage at stores can vary. I hand my card over and the cashier (?) hands me back a machine with my card sticking out of it. Careful, misreading the tiny screen and it’s instructions can result in failure and a waist of more time.

Some stores don’t even utilize the technology and opt for a digital signature pad. Now, I am a south paw (lefty) and it is really difficult for me to sign one of these pads, especially when the placement of the pad never accounted for the angle at which most left-handed people write. Absolutely anyone could sign my name better than I do. Slowly, I am starting to develop a new version of my signature, one for use on a digital signature pad. Of course, there are some stores still doing it the old fashioned way, with a slip of paper. I still worry that my digital signature, now scribbled and digitized many times into many systems, might get stolen one day. Does my digital signature get saved somewhere?

Today, my wallet is bursting with chip cards, credit cards, bank cards, and I have a new problem that I think about nearly every time I use one of the cards. What is the PIN number for this one? Unlike some people, I have opted to use a different PIN for each card. My logic tells me that if someone gets my wallet and my PIN, they will have it all, that is, if I have changed all the PIN numbers to be the same code. Thus, I have the numbers kept in a secret place that I have to check before I use the card. But, what if somebody finds my list? Then they will have it all anyway. Stealing a PIN does not seem that difficult, since the keypads are used out in the open with no plastic guards, or anything to stop somebody from seeing what buttons you press. Am I to cup my hand over the keypad like we used to do when we wanted to hide something we were writing in school, like a test?

Isn’t a hand written signature on paper more secure? More authentic? I am always wondering if there is another way. What about fingerprint? Then someone would need to steal both my card and my finger. What about iris recognition? They would have to get my eye too.

I think chip cards are better for the stores than a slip of paper. They certainly do not seem better for me.

There is much more to this business of converting to using chips. See — http://www.spychips.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrITx7_tTT0 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spychips

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Preamble

I have many interesting activities in my life—so many that I have neglected my blogs. Since myBobLog is my original and first blog, it is here that I endeavor to begin my blogging journey once again. I start now with a new theme.

In the hopefully near future, I want to write about a project of growing my hair to donate to cancer patients. I have a fundraising page that I will link to. I also need to write about my return to playing music with my cornet and how had a dream come true by acquiring a particular cornet. I also need to write about the two jazz bands I run. In fact, I have begun websites for them too, so there lies more blogging activities.

My next move will likely be to take a peek at my Technojungle Project. I suppose I have been blaming my blogging neglect on the writing of my upcoming book, however, music has also been a strong draw away. I have even postponed work on my photography.

Don't worry about the details of all these projects and activities. I will make sure the mud settles as soon as I get a better handle on how I want to set up things here on this blog to start with.

It will take some time, so stay tuned and be patient.

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