Monday, February 24, 2014

List of Awesomeness: Part Three

I feel very confident in my ability to compile a list of things that are awesome.  I plan on making it my doctoral dissertation one day.  Let’s continue the list in no particular order or demarcation of importance.


1. Urinal separators

There is a strange rarely spoken etiquette for men’s restrooms.  One primary rule is its rude to look at another man’s junk.  It can be an awkward experience peeing next to someone, especially in a crowded rest room.  Most gentleman won’t be standing arms akimbo like Superman peeing away majestically.  It runs the gambit from uptight guys who stare straight ahead with a small bead of perspiration falling slowly down their face to others who simply couldn’t care where they are and offer loud exclamations, fart audibly, sigh, groan, or worst of all strike up conversation.  Urinal separators give us men much needed separation and space.

2. A Good Toast
I’ve been to several weddings and most of the speeches have been acceptable.  One was almost disastrous, raising audible moans and sharp exhales at the missteps taken.  There were hushed voices and people leaning in conspiratorially to remark, “did she really just say that?”  I spent weeks mulling over my best man speech.  I had been given a lot of bad advice, with wonderful intentions, and ignored it all.  My favorite bad advice was simply to wing it.  Winging it is never good.  I tense up if I don’t see a small piece of paper in the best man or maid of honors hand as they given the microphone.  While I felt I did admirably and had many congratulations the best toast I have heard was from my Uncle the night before my cousin’s, his son’s, wedding.  He spoke softly but was able to command the attention of quite a few loaded up patrons.  He had the exact amount of humor and emotion.  I was extremely honored to be there.  And that is what a toast is meant to be.  It should be the distillation of long amount of effort into a special moment to commemorate and remind us that life is precious and that these good moments will be remembered.  A toast is a life affirming moment where we revel in our good company and proclaim our luck at having such good friends and family.

3. Fruit snacks
I freaking love fruit snacks.  There is something so purely wonderful in this small globule of processed sugar.  It is also my go to I feel like crap snack.  When I’ve had stomach issues (ranging from explosively unpleasant to I’m going to lie down when I play video games) this is what I eat.

4. Yoga Pants
The yoga pant is the push up bra for the behind.  It also has that spandex clingy deal going on which is vastly appreciated by us men.  All things being equal the yoga pant is non-discriminating so all manner of people can wear it, even those who you want to burn your eyes out after seeing them in it.  But that’s not the fault of yoga pants that is the fault of bad people.  Also, apparently they are rather comfy.

5. Jadav Payeng: the guy who planted a forest
As a teenager Jadav say took pity on some snakes, one of Nature’s terror factories, that happened to die in the sun displaced in an inhospitable land.  He started, by himself, to turn a barren sandbar into a thriving ecosystem.  He carefully seeded the burgeoning forest and nurtured balance with actions like physically bringing in ants to help the nascent ecosystem.  Now home to numerous plants and endangered animal species he has created, single handedly, a 1,360-acre forest over the past 30 years.  For scale Central Park is 778 acres (also it has a 37.5 million annual budget and I’m guessing an employee base of more than one).

http://www.younews.in/news/man-plants-a-forest-all-by-himself/

6. Stand up comedy
Laughter is a good thing.  Heck its health benefits are even noted.  Stand up comedy is just some possibly deranged, most often maladjusted, person standing in front of a audience trying to make people happy.  It’s a horrifying trade in a sense.  Up alone in front of rows of eyes being judged by something as hard to measure as taste.  Good comedy is a reflection of ills in society.  Good comedy makes us look closer at ourselves and think deeply about our lives.  Comedy is harder than dying.

7. NASA
Besides flinging people in space, which was done with items like protractors and slide rules and is perhaps one of the coolest things ever, NASA has brought humanity numerous scientific discoveries that have benefitted our way of life.  Anything satellite technology would not be in the same place it is now without NASA.  But less obvious without NASA we wouldn’t have or wouldn’t be as advanced in our knowledge of; memory foam; hearing aids; insulin pumps; water filters; invisible braces; invisible braces; scratch resistant lenses; shoe insoles; ear thermometers (usually kinda helpful with those small screeching baby things); shoe insoles (borrowing from space boots springy designs); safety grooving (those little channels dug into runways and highways); improved water filters; computer microchips (first designed for Apollo’s guidance); insulation that funky stuff that looks a wee bit like cotton candy (you’d think they choose a color that doesn’t evoke food when you know a child at one point would be exposed to it by itself at one point); and joysticks (also Apollo).  More impressive are items like Lifeshears.  Mini portable high tech jaws of life that slice through impairments in a fraction of the time and were instrumental in saving lives in both the Oklahoma City bombings (1995) and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers (2001).  But forget just saving our lives in times of disaster NASA also helps the environment with solutions that can neutralize toxic chemicals in the groudnwater (maybe we could use this in combination with all the problems with fraking)

http://www.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/top-5-nasa-inventions.htm
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/ten-nasa-inventions.htm
http://www.design-laorosa.com/2012/11/26-nasa-inventions-that-we-take-for.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/ten-nasa-inventions.htm

8. Wikipedia
A free online lookup for virtually everything that is far more informative than anything on the news.  It’s free you guys.  Like in the same PBS manner of hey can you spare a few coins so we don’t shut down due to expense costs.  Seriously, have you spent time on the site?  It’s like a random interesting fact generator/slash time suck.

9. Mr. Rogers
If you don’t like Mr. Rogers there is something truly, deeply, irrevocably wrong with you.  Perhaps the nicest person to grace the planet during my lifetime.  Every one of his cardigans was hand knit by his mother.  He got on televisions because he disliked TV (that’s changing the system from within).  He really made people feel special because he really was curious about people.  The story about his limo driver floating around is one of the more touching.  He invited his limo driver in from the cold during a long meeting and then stopped by his house and hosted an impromptu party and played the piano.  He kept in touch with the driver.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/16416/15-reasons-mister-rogers-was-best-neighbor-ever
http://www.lovelyish.com/2013/05/08/4-more-reasons-to-love-mr-rogers-as-if-you-needed-another/

10. Ferrets
They are god damn cute and they helped Ahnold in Kindergarten Cop.  Also the female ferret will die if it doesn’t have sex once a year.  Actually that’s kind of a bummer ignore that and focus on ahnold.  He never bites, unless you’re a bad guy then he bites which is rather helpful.  I want one desperately but I can’t because Mac will totally try to eat the ferret.  And I don’t like the idea of a ferret ball cage thing.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/09/female-ferrets-will-die-if-they-dont-mate/

Ben

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Anti-Intellectualism

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” ~ Isaac Asimov

There is a slow spring of ignorance and lunacy gripping the nation.  This goes well beyond party lines and the same old rhetoric of demonizing the other side.  It rests within the hands of a few influential and very naughty people.  I choose naughty because some of them are simply irrevocably misinformed.  They are the ostriches in the sand refusing to lift their heads out.  Reason and logic be damned.  Then there are the really insidious people (like the Koch brothers) who spread virulent falsehoods intentionally for their own gain.

I honestly think somewhere there is a handbook called ‘the politics of stupidity’ built simply to induce fervor and hatred among those of low intelligence.  Chapter one is about using scare tactics to incite foolish actions.  Scare tactics are the weapons of morally bankrupt people.  Scare tactics divides people who could be united.  Scare tactics lets you justify any action, like torture, that thing expressly condemned by most of the civilized world and Geneva Convention.  Nope, it’s okay against suspected terrorists.  Maybe they were tried in a kangaroo court, sadly much less fun than an actual court comprised of kangaroos or their captain, maybe they were never tried, while held indefinitely and their crime was never published.  Maybe they can never escape and their supposed wrong doings won’t see the light as the same closed door court ruled it private.  Maybe scare tactics fuel big scary things like the military industrial machine and big business which helps elect the people who use it.

Then there is the audacity and hypocrisy of politicians like Chris Christie and Ted Cruz.  I’d like to write about a Democratic idiot here but these two really scream to be included.  Chris Christie is so full of bluster and nonsense that he thinks saying one thing and doing another is okay.  He made a career saying he was tough on corruption without really being all that tough on corruption it seems.  And New Jersey is rife with corruption as their bosses rival the economic squeezing and tactics of Tammany hall.  What upsets me is his arrogant confidence.  The bridge scandal shows his merciless heartless side.  Closing down lanes in Fort Lee definitely hurt people and very well may have killed people.  Paramedics could not reach people in time.  It is unsure whether during these incidents whether or not the person may have been resuscitated and saved but it certainly could have helped their chances.  Every second is precious to first responders.  Christie's excuses treat the public like petulant children.  He claims not to have known.  He does not deny the closures and that they were in fact lying about the cause and that they were unnecessary.  He instead states that he had no knowledge of this.  This means one of two distressing things.  The man who represents himself as hands on politician who gets things done and knows what is going on is a total lie and he has rogue employees.  This means he can’t handle his responsibilities and should not be in a position of power and is totally incompetent.  The other is that he did know what is going on that this is his best excuse.  He was caught in his cookie jar and his best thought is to say it wasn’t me.  He threw a people onto the sword and hopes the scandal will go away.  Even better he wants, or Fox News does, brownie points for handling things well while the scandal goes on.

Ted Cruz is a dangerous man who is dividing and already damaged and weakened Republican party.  The Tea Party faction is already biting the hand that feeds it and will eventually eat itself once the public finally sees the damage they have wrought.  Sadly they will have left an impressive legacy of hate and corporate indulgence.  Thank you Koch brothers (sarcasm!).  Cruz has twice for his own personal gain attempted to blockade the debt ceiling raise.  No one in their right mind thinks defaulting is good.  And defaulting is what would happen.  The United States would sink even lower in the eyes of the world and our economy which is attempting to limp to recovery would be dealt a very bad blow.  Poverty would increase and in turn homelessness and starvation.  Those are things generally thought of as bad.  His latest stunt forced people to know which Republicans backed down from lunacy.  Sadly this is looked at as a bad thing.  For some reason many within the Republican party seem to think taking their ball and going home is a good political maneuver.  That toying with the future of America’s wellbeing is simply a tool to reelection and power.

I remembered a dangerous Democrat: New York idiot Anthony Weiner.  Now I feel better.  This idiot thought that halfhearted apologies would wipe away former wrong doings.  Also he was arrogant enough to continue to do what got him trouble in the first place.  Now sexting is not necessarily something that gets in the way of holding office.  But this casts a light on your character.  A broken character is important to know in your elected officials.   This is why the Lewinski scandal was a big deal.  However unlike Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner didn’t stop with the transgressions.  Unlike Clinton Weiner isn’t terribly good at what he does.  Also unlike Clinton Weiner wasn’t being investigated under a microscope.  The Lewinski scandal, for those that remember, started after an investigation into a Whitewater.  Nothing damning was found and the Gingrich led senate, frothing at the mouth, kept pushing for barbs to throw at Clinton.  The special investigator kept asking for more things to investigate and the sprawling investigation finally found the dress.  I do not want to condone what Bill Clinton did.  It was morally reprehensible, but it did not impede his work or his presidency.  Anthony Weiner, however, is a smug little scumbag who thinks he is above the law.  There is a big difference.  The odd thing is the same thing people revile Clinton for they celebrate in JFK.  But maybe that’s difference between banging interns and famous movie starlets.

But these actions are supported in part by the news conglomerates.  These monopolies of lies and falsehoods are gobbled up by individuals like Rupert Murdoch and simply live by their own rules.  They falsify, contort twist and misrepresent.  Many of these pundits have shelf lives, how Bill O'Reilly has managed to stay employed bewilders me, as their virulence and fervor can only be accepted so long.  And both sides are at fault.  Simply calling a man an idiot and a loser is not good enough.  Items like facts and data have to speak louder.  Sadly facts are ignored for fear and hate mongering.  Just ask Glenn Beck.  He would justify his ignorance by saying he was just stirring the pot and creating conversation a tactic that neatly dodged responsibility and repercussions.  Repercussions seem to be something heavily avoided.  News organizations give halfhearted apologies.

I don’t really get my news from mainstream media, left or right, anymore.   I mostly get it from the internet.  Which is why I constantly read about protests and riots (like the one in Kiev, Spain, Columbia, and Venezuela) that either never make it to the news or arrive months later.

But anti-intellectualism weaves itself throughout society.  It lets ignorance flourish and ignore criticism.  Facts become secondary to gut feelings and interpretations.  The thing about science is it is written down and can be countered with evidence.  There are plenty of corrupt (those funded with specific intentions which is counter to the spirit of science and intellectual curiosity) or incorrect studies.  This is why there are those who actively push for children not to have immunization shots and vaccinations.  This simply sickens me.  Parents who defy logic and hurt their own children for some ill-conceived notion.  These are often the same parents who won’t let their children be treated by modern methods.  They refuse lifesaving treatments like blood transfusions.  And these poor doctors and nurses have to deal with this horrid people midst their stressful lives.  Ask an ER doctor, or any doctor for that matter, their horror stories.  It’s enough to have a bad taste in your mouth about humanity.

If you don’t think scientific stupidity and confusion is wide spread or really that bad, you are mostly likely hopeful and, sadly, incorrect.  One out of every four American adults are actually unaware that the Earth orbits the Sun.  This hurts my brain and my soul.  It begs the question about whether these people simply never went to school or that it was never properly taught.  Hell, even the intro for The Big Bang Theory shows the planets and the earth revolving around the sun.  This isn’t some small notion that is not, say, universally shared by just about everyone (except apparent for 25% of the populace).

The next sentence then goes on the talk about that half of this same population thinks that antibiotics (that medicine that is specifically targets to bacterial infections) kills viruses.  Viruses and Bacteria are two wildly different things.  The human body is a carrier for countless beneficial and unique bacteria.  Not so much for viruses.  The story which hurt to read also include, thank goodness, some bright spots about positive endorsements for science and that the government should be involved in funding experimentation for the betterment of mankind.

http://www.iflscience.com/scientific-knoweldge-trails-support-0

The key, I think, is not to view this as science versus religion.  That is a battle that cannot be won.  Religion is a belief strongly encased within the hearts and minds. It is incorruptible to those that hold it dear.  It is beyond reproach.  Also some of these same people ignore the very advice given within their holy texts.  They pick and choose their sayings to support them.  The Bible is filled with inconsistencies.  There are sins that are ignored and others that are not seemingly at random (examples like shellfish, wearing clothes of mixed fiber and homosexuality being one often pointed out)*.

The problem fighting against the wrongs of religion is that the people who are carrying the banner are these whiny, smug Atheists.  Their problem is not that they have poor evidence and not that they lack logical arguments but that they lack humility and compassion.  You are attacking the very cornerstone of someone’s life and morality.  I want to agree with some of these assholes but I can’t bring myself to support, well, assholes.  People like Bill Nye are what we should aspire to be.  His debate over intelligent design and evolution showed acceptance, grace and compassion.  He did not slam or attack his opponent.  He did not belittle or begrudge he simply showed evidence and gave his opinions.  That is the key to enlightening others.  Everyone is on a different path and we don’t know where they are along it.  It is with ingenuity and compassion that anti-intellectualism will be felled.

*http://thecripplegate.com/shellfish-mixed-fabrics-and-homosexuality-picking-and-choosing/

Ben

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

There is No Friend Zone

I often hear, or read, about boys (I choose to use the word boys and not men for a specific reason) being stuck in the friend zone.  They lament that their perfect female friend doesn’t understand the depths of their love and that they should be together.  There are often two very specific problems with this kind complaint.
Firstly, you’re an idiot and that friend is allowed to make their own choice.  There is no destiny involved here, just your delusional sense of self-importance.  Secondly you probably didn’t voice your opinion and she isn’t a mind reader.  No one is, except for mind readers, if they happen to exist.

Being shy and nice doesn’t equate to being the one.  And being nice does not entitle you to the object of your fantasy.  And fantasy is a key word here.  Not that the woman is unattainable but that you heap all these praises on her raising her to demi god status.  She is no longer a human being but a thing, a fetish, totally unrealistic and far too perfect.  No person should have to live up to hype you created.

But, you ask, I do everything for her and she takes for granted why can’t she know that loving me is the right thing?  There are a few answers to this.  Only one of them is you being correct.  Another is that simply she is using you.  You have placed yourself into this master servant role willingly.  There is no contract that says hey hold my purse, go shopping with me, be a shoulder to cry on for like six months and then all of a sudden I’ll strip naked and fuck your brains out.  Nope, doesn’t happen.  You’re stuck there because you made that happen.  Accept being a friend-servant and never a boyfriend or move on.  More probably you never made a move and want to be near your beloved.  You never made it clear that your intentions were to wee her.  Maybe you write sappy poems or buy her presents but they are always calculated not to be too risky.  Asking a person out is risky.  It can be heart wrenching hearing a no.  It can be pure elation hearing a yes.  But if you always stay safe she won’t know your intentions.

If you keep hanging around you become a lead weight on her.  You might try to sabotage any perspective suitor who has the guts to ask.  You’re doing her no favors.  So get over yourself and ask.  Or, here’s a  novel idea, just be friends.  Being a friend isn’t a consolation prize.  And being a friend isn’t meant to be the path to romantic interlude.  This person owes you nothing.

Being a nice guy doesn’t mean being nice only for a prize (her love), it means being nice for the sake of being nice.  Being nice for a prize means you’re a dick.  You probably watched too many movies where the shy nerdy guy gets the girl at the end.  The problem with those movies is that it treats the woman as a prize.  By winning the game, or the election, or rallying the kids of the city they end up winning the heart of the girl.  That’s the job of the girl in these movies to reward the hero’s efforts.  That isn’t life.  Women aren’t a reward for a job well done.  There are two movie franchises I can think of where the hero didn’t get the girl but his friend did (Star Wars and Harry Potter) and I appreciated them all the more for that.

I know these things because I was idiot as a younger man.  That’s why you might have read some anger in these words.  They were not pointed at others as much as at a past self.  While I never placed myself in the friend zone exactly I never left my safe zone.  I was an admirer from afar.  It’s a weird, voyeuristic, hollow thing to be like that.  At one point in my life something just gave way.  I don’t remember the exact moment but I came to realize being so reserved and nervous about socializing did me no favors.  I liked people and I liked being around them.  I wanted to go to parties.  So I did.  I just stopped making excuses and stopped being safe.  It led to rejection, heart ache and sorrow but mostly it led to fun, to happiness and finally love.  I stopped admiring from afar and I never placed anyone so high up they were untouchable or sacrosanct.  We are all just imperfect people and I’m quite content with that.

So remember if you’re in the friend zone it’s because you made that choice not them.  Either ask them out, be a friend or walk away.  You’ll be happier in the end.

Ben

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Pokémon Confuses Me

The world of Pokémon makes no sense to me.  I get the logistics of the fighting, of the card trading as well as RPG battles and all that.  What I don’t get is why young kids are traveling around unsupervised engaging in battle with wild monsters/animals.  The world itself makes less sense than rules governing the battles.  The battles all have reasonably complicated but balanced/thought out rules.  You have different types who are stronger or weaker against other types.  They can be leveled, upgraded, get new moves standard role playing nonsense.  It’s the world that makes no sense.  The whole place seems to hinge on these battles.  That seems to be what drives the economy entirely.  And it’s left to the kids.  The only thing that rings true is some evil mafia like organization trying to control the whole empire and win by stacking the deck behind the scenes.

Other games in the genre are rather ridiculous, magic how silly, but they make sense.  I can accept a world with wizards and goblins but without some manner of internal logic to hold it together it moves from odd to outright creepy.

Take Final Fantasy.  They have had countless games, spin offs, plenty of mistakes, but they generally keep to some internal plot and logic that makes sense.  There is life outside the adventure.  People in the world run towns, do the smithy-ing, farming, raising cattle or breeding chocobo (ostrich horse hybrids with their own theme music).  There is monarchies and established governments.  Why does this matter, it’s made up you ask.  Simple.  Because there is no frame of reference.  If everything is different it’s incomprehensible and worse still really awful plot devices can come out of nowhere and fix any problem.  “Oh, you can just use this magic water conveniently over there but never mentioned previously to now to fix the king”.  Fuck you lazy writing.  Fantasy/science fiction needs some stabilizing presence so their audience can understand what’s going on.  That’s why in movies that take place in some other realm or world we have some idiot the other characters keep talking to.  The new guy who is a moderately acceptable plot device used to explain to the audience through them what the rules are of the world.  Better than some hastily written words flashing across the screen or a bad narration.  Wonder why so many heroes are young people who know nothing of the world they live in?  Or that the story starts with some dude with amnesia, or some new student, a new recruit, and so on (see Hellboy, X-Men, The Matrix, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, and more).

How is it creepy you might ask?  Well for starters they let kids wander around the whole world by themselves, encouraging them to capture and enslave wild animals/monsters, and tell them to fight with people to progress.  I’m pretty sure most mature societies frown on encouraging kids to fight.  And they might be more than slightly obliged to oppose animal cruelty or risking your life capturing vicious beasts.

But only the Pokémon fight each other you state.  That’s right.  It’s also fucked up.  Is some ancient pact never referenced that means a Pokémon can’t attack some stupid kid.  And why is there no violence besides Pokémon on Pokémon violence?  You’d think in any society there is some conflict between humans that escalates to physical harm.  I’m not talking bar knifings or gangs of groin punching hooligans - watch out for the leather clad cock rockers – but it’s weird a place so inured to violence has it only in these strict confines.

Let’s encourage child endangerment.  Sure there is some weird law never stated that talks about Pokémon only hurting Pokémon but sometimes these creatures do outlandish enormous attacks.  Maybe there might be some repercussion.  They aren’t fighting in some vacuum.  It’s the reason in Dragonball Z they always flew out to some unpopulated area.  It’s the reason any super villain who wanted a chance with Superman would throw a bus of nuns at a bus of orphans to distract him.  But forget the weird monster battles these kids are wandering the world by themselves.  Never once are they chastised.  Rather they’re encouraged in sweat shop mentality to catch them all.  Is this their version of school?  I guess they might learn statistics, some strategic and critical thinking but that’s about it.  No history, no reading, no writing, just bullshit.

No adults do this even they could own at the sport and have all the power.  This is odd.  There are scumbags out there.  For every person who volunteers at the shelter there is some dickwad who cuts you off in traffic as they sip delicately from their overpriced premium coffee while flipping you the bird and listening to bad German techno.  You wonder why only kids can do battle.  Or maybe he kids are just stupid enough to do the hard work and capture the monsters and the adults harvest the fuckers for something else.  Maybe every time you bring one to the hospital there is some nefarious goings ons before they returned to you.  Maybe that’s why their always so excited for you to come pick them up.  Now I no longer trust vets as a side note.  Damn you crushing paranoia.

The game teaches that kidnapping and slavery are okay.  They totally aren’t.  I don’t know if every Pokémon has some Stockholm switch and they are chill with people forced into some magical sphere prison but it seems weird.  Worse still one Pokémon gets to just wander around freely with their trainer.  The rest can go fuck themselves.  Stay in your cage until I need you to beat the hell out of another one of your species.  And totally don’t rise up against us even though we robbed you of your freedom and use you for our gain.  It’s not like you have superpowers that keep getting stronger and we’re just flappy meat popsicles.  Seriously, why don’t they riot?  Maybe the magic ball just reprograms their brains.  In that case the poor wild Pokémon should organize and storm the cities and try to free their borged (borged is a word right?) cousins.

I have no comprehension of how their communication skills work.  These Pokémon only seem to communicate via saying their species name.  Not even their name their species name.  But they clearly understand their trainer’s wishes.  No Pokémon disagrees with your choice of attack, even its stupid, and does another one.  They clearly listen and comprehend, and sadly obey completely.  Why won’t you love me trainer, I do everything you ask!  More bewildering one of the monster/pets learned to speak our language.  Just one.  And he isn’t famous or praised for his rare ability.  Which muddies the water when thinking about individual personalities and self-awareness.  They can comprehend, they can learn but they have no yearning for anything but being controlled?

My caffeine addled brain is probably looking far too deeply into childrens’ programming but remember this is what the youth are watching.  This is the material that is in their heads as they begin to form higher thoughts like ethics, morals, and a right way to live.  While entertainment is never really to blame for kids’ actions it isn’t free from criticism either.  But most importantly it may be best for parents to understand what the hell your kids are ingesting.  Then again I wanted to be a Jedi when I grew up.  I don’t think the market has any opening for that and I have almost entirely stopped trying to move the remote control with my mind.

Ben