From the Desk of Michael Ross

Here you'll find my thoughts on business, marketing, psychology, government intrusion, freedom of thought and person, all from a commonsense point of view. I also house all my products here too.

June 05, 2004

The Game Homos Love To Play

This is going to upset a LOT of Australian men. But the truth needs to be told once and for all.

Rugby and Rugby League are poofter games!!!

Now before you blow your stack, please count to ten, take three deep breaths and let me explain why...

As a heterosexual I have ZERO desire to rub my body up against another man. In fact, the thought of cuddling another grown man sickens me. And yet, this is exactly what goes on in Rugby and Rugby League - grown men cuddle each other, sometimes even grabbing each other by the private parts. And when they score a "try" they have another cuddle and even touch each others bottom.

I am supposed to believe this is the action of a heterosexual and not a homosexual. I'm sorry, it doesn't look very heterosexual to me. Unless I'm here in the alternate universe again where men fondling men is a sign of heterosexualness.

But it doesn't end on the field!

They also have naked showers together. Eeewww. Why would a man want to get naked and shower with another man? Yucky.

And still it doesn't end. Because after all that, they go out with each other.

Psst. Come close so they can't hear. Closer.

Listen. It is natural for a man to take out a woman. That's what true heterosexual men do. They don't take out other men while women stay at home.

It is natural for a man to want to fondle a woman's sexy bits - whether he actually does or not. It is not natural for a man to actually fondle another mans bits.

There is a name for men who take out other men, shower in the nude with other men, rub their body's up against other men and fondle men's private bits... they are called poofs, poofters, faggots, homos, queers, and a bunch of other non-PC terms. And it seems they all play rugby and rugby league.

June 04, 2004

I'm Prettier Than You

If you have been living on an island without power for the last couple of days, you will have missed hearing how an Australian girl won the Miss Universe contest.

I've got a beef to pick with the whole sorry thing.

1: Miss Universe is a misleading name because the only contestants who enter are Earthlings (humans). So it cannot be a contest which covers the entire universe of beings.

2: I've seen better (better looking, better figure) working at the checkout at my local supermarket. Hey, I married better!

3: Why should I give a toss about her? The media keep reporting "we just can't get enough of her" and I conclude the only ones who cannot get enough of her are the media. By constantly running with her story, or a variation of it, they don't have to come up with alternate news - the lazy bastards. It's the media and NOT the general public who can't get enough of her. I was fed up after seeing the winner's announcement on the TV pantomime they call news.

Have you see her? Where are her lips? The shape of her eyes is all messed up. Her nose is all wrong. If I saw her walking down the street I honestly wouldn't look twice. And the only time I would look twice would be if she was walking down the middle of the city street in a bikini. But then again, if a fat tub of lard walked down the street in a bikini I would also look. So my looking has no bearing on anything.

I'm sure she'll have fun puncing around full of self-importance at how she won a phony contest. And she may even scam some money or a career out of it after all is said and done.

But of all the misleading useless things, I can think of no other at the moment.

I've got an idea to make these contests better. Turn them into reality shows. Where the public votes for who they think is the better looking. This might stop the "politically correct" answers they have to give the leftist judges. And we might actually see a genuinely good looking woman win.

But I won't hold my breath.

I'm Concerned

I'm concerned. Worried almost. About the lefting of the world. Britain is left. Spain just became left. France, well. Canada, oh my God. As their anthem goes... Oh Canada... but I read that now as, "Oh Canada what the bloomin hell are you doin'?"

It appears that the only civilized/advanced nations who are not under control of the lefties are Australia and the U.S. And both of those countries have elections coming up this year.

Mark Latham, convicted taxi-driver basher and adulterer, is poised to bring a socialist style government to the Australian people IF he should be elected. He wants to widen the unfair dismissal laws - effectively stopping all small business from ever employing anyone again because once they do they won't ever be able to get rid of them; to increase petrol tax - which will cause economic hardship for all Australians who use a car, will drive prices up like crazy as transport companies pass on their increased costs and effect all Australian whether they have a have a car or not; and basically send Australia into a financial bog hole. Killing small business dead. Impoverish is the word that comes to mind. And he'll probably tell us, like the previous leftist leader, that the recession that follows is the recession we have to have.

With the main population states all having lefty governments, I don't like the look of the next federal election. Specially with all the media help the left gets.

Take the recent politician's vacation thing for example. We have had a never-ending media Bashing of a rightist politician who took a boyfriend on an overseas trip when she went, instead of her ex-husband. If they had a formal tie, then it would have been ok. But because their relationship wasn't formalized (married, engaged, etc.) the media let her have it with both barrels.

On the flip side, they are strangely quiet about their beloved lefty Latham bashing up a taxi driver.

On one hand a woman goes overseas with a boyfriend and we don't hear the end of it. On the other hand, the leader of the opposition party physically bashes up a guy trying to make a living, and we don't hear a peep. He swears in parliament at our leader and it doesn't get reported either. Come on!?

On the other side of this globule of hardened mud we live on, the demonrats are trying to do likewise to our mate Dubya. Their poster boy is a self-confessed commiter of war crimes and we hardly hear a peep about it. While Dubya can do no right. Dubya spends more money on education than Clinton did, yet he is accused of not spending enough. He has spent more money on health than Clinton did, yet he is accused of not spending enough. It's the dirtiest campaign I can ever recall seeing. And for what? Really for what? What is so atrocious about anything Dubya has done? Dubya's a straight shooter. What you see is pretty well what you get. Somehow this upsets the demonrats. They yell. Scream. Shriek. Is that what you would want from a leader? To be the head of a party who cannot communicate without losing it?

I fear the world will go to the dogs if Australia and the U.S. fall victim to the lefty socialist plague which is currently sweeping the globe. I fear this will happen because the voting public are not very intelligent.

For instance: I spoke with a man who will vote for the leftist ALP in Australia. I asked him "why?" and he said, "Because they are the workers party and I am a worker."

I asked him about policies. His reply was "The ALP is for the worker. I am a worker so I vote for them" End of discussion.

It's morons like this who have the power to elect inept politicians who have to resort to name calling during sessions of parliament because they are unable to communicate effectively, who cheat on their wife and who assault taxi drivers. It's moron voters like that whose voting ignorance results in the impoverishment of a nation and those within the nation who are actually striving to better themselves and others.

Almost all of the voting public are dumb - on both sides of the political fence. They let their voting be dictated by whatever is printed in the media. They have no long-term vision. And their opinions are always those of others. Most have not had an original thought in their life time.

May 30, 2004

Inconsiderate Bastards

We all have things that annoy us. And we all get annoyed to various degrees regarding those things. Some people become enraged, while others have more of a "oh well" and move on attitude while still finding it annoying.

One of my pet peeves switches was flipped today. And it's a flip that says a LOT about the person doing the flipping.

Basically, a "client" needed some help. They needed it yesterday but I was totally booked up and so today was scheduled in.

When I turned up the client was nowhere to be seen. And asking around I discovered they had gone to work and wouldn't be home until seven hours later.

The client had NOT called to reschedule, or postpone or even cancel the meeting. They had willingly and knowingly allowed me to waste my time. The inconsiderate bastard they are. I called them and their excuse was... "I didn't have any credit on my cell phone."

What is my peeve? Wasting my time. Don't you dare waste my time like this. Don't book my time at your location and then throw it away.

Four months back another client who I had previously done work for, booked me in. Upon arriving they were also nowhere to be seen. I left a "sorry to have missed you card" and left. When they called the next day to ask where I was, pretending not to have seen the card and pretending they thought it was today and not yesterday, they asked to reschedule. When I asked if they would be there this time, they got all shirty about it. I reminded them they had wasted my time. They told me not to be like that or they would get someone else. (HA! A threat to try to manipulate me). I calmly told them to "get someone else then" and hung up.

Previously another new "client" also failed to be at our meeting. What got me about this one was, she had specifically asked for that exact time and day. Yet when I arrived she was not there. After 15 minutes of waiting I left. Thirty minutes later she called to ask where I was!? I told her I had already been, left a card in the door, and left because she wasn't there. She asked to reschedule. I told her I can't do business with her anymore because she wasted my time and money and she had better call someone else, and hung up.

To me, this is more than just wasting my time, and traveling costs, it is also about keeping your word. In all these cases, these people failed to keep their word. They made a promise and broke it. No consideration of the other person. And it says a lot about a person who will willingly and knowingly waste someone's time and money in these kinds of situations. A simple phone call is all it takes. But not even that effort can be made. That is how inconsiderate they are. And it is something that permeates their entire life.

As a business owner I know that when I go to a client's location to provide an estimate, that I may never land the contract. And that is a small risk of doing business. And yes that time and traveling cost will have been wasted if the contract is not won, but that is all a part of doing business.

What I am talking about here is willingly and knowingly scheduling in time with someone else and then not even having the common decency to let the other person know you won't be there. It's like being told on Monday to come pick up your dry-cleaning at 12pm on Tuesday and when you get there the store is closed, and while looking around you see a sign saying "closed until Wednesday". Or being told by the service center that "your car is ready." And you say, "I'll be there in ten minutes" and when you get there the service center has closed for the day.

Research Topic Of The Week

During the week, certain thoughts, words, ideas, etc., pop into my head. Most of these I let flitter away. Some, however, stay with me. Those I deem interesting enough, I Google to find out more.

This week's research topic is based on my quest for the answer of why men have beards.

Before revealing what my research turned up, let me tell you MY opinion...

Men have beards for a number of reasons:

Reason # 1 - it lets a prospective mate know you are, in fact, a man and not a boy who is likely not to be producing sperm yet.

Reason # 2 - the longer the beard, the longer the man has been alive. And that means he must be good at hunting. He would therefore make a good mate and produce good offspring.

Reason # 3 - beards grow because of testosterone, so having a good full beard indicates much testosterone so you are a manly man, woo-hoo.

Notice how these reason are all signs to let females know of your good breeding ability.

Picture the old wise man. Notice he has a beard. A lo-o-o-o-ong beard. Which even us guys take to mean he has been around for eons. That's often why he is wise (he has learned a lot). But he must be wise because he had to be wise to have survived for so long. Double whammy. He is wise because he is old; he is old because he is wise.

So what does the research reveal?

I'm glad you asked. It reveals some interesting stuff.

For instance: There is an African tale that women and men used to have beards, but because a woman did something "illegal" with her beard, the king commanded all women to have their beards removed. Here's the story for your enjoyment...

Long, long ago, women used to grow beards. Their beards were longer, thicker and more beautiful than those of men. They took great care of their beards. Some became so proud of them that they looked down on men, including their own brothers, fathers and husbands. One of the proudest was Nkemdiche. She and her three sisters were admired for their beauty, but especially for their beards.

Their city was ruled by a wealthy and good king named Enyi Mba. His favorite treasure was a gold ring. One day, one of his daughters saw that the servants were very busy and decided to help them by washing all the plates in the household herself. She picked them all up, not noticing that one of the plates had the ring on it, and took them down to a stream to wash. She never saw the ring slip off the plate into the stream. The rushing waters carried away the ring and soon a fish swallowed it.

Downstream, a boy was fishing. He caught enough fish that day to sell some and bring the rest home to his family. After he roasted a fish for himself, he cut it open and found the ring. Excited, he took the ring to town the next day and sold it to Nkemdiche, not knowing that the ring belonged to the king. Nkemdiche did, but was too proud and selfish to return it to its rightful owner. Instead she hid the ring inside her long, thick beard.

It was not long before the king discovered that his ring was missing. No one, including his daughter, had any idea what had happened. The news of the missing ring was announced throughout the kingdom. The little fisher-boy heard of it and realized whose ring he had found in the fish. Knowing that the king would not punish him for his ignorance, he ran to the king's servants and told them how he had found the ring and, not knowing whose it was, had sold it to a townswoman named Nkemdiche.

The king's servants searched everywhere for Nkemdiche, but no one knew where she was. Unable to find her, the king's servants suggested that he offer to marry any woman who could bring back his ring. Soon Nkemdiche came walking proudly into the king's presence.

"I know where the ring is," she announced. "I have it." And she pulled it from its hiding place in her beard. All the servants realized what she had done. The men-servants were shocked, but the women-servants, ever proud of their beards, were amused at how Nkemdiche had fooled the searchers.

The king sent all the women, including Nkemdiche, out of sight and hearing, and took counsel with the men-servants. They talked of how much contempt the women were showing them because of their beards, and how Nkemdiche had used hers to steal the ring.

At the end of the meeting, the king declared, "Let the beards of all the women be shaved. Let every bit be scraped from their faces, even the faces of my wife and daughters. For these beards are full of evil. We know of a paste that will arrest the growth of hair - let it be put on the jaws of all women, so that no girl or woman will ever again grow a beard to trouble men with."

Since then, women have not grown beards.
Well, as you can see, only an idiot would believe this. But hey, when science answers aren't known, a story like this can be accepted by people (remember, you believed in Santa once).

Another more scientific explanation goes like this: Estrogen (the dominant hormone in women) promotes head hair growth while restricting facial and body hair growth. Testosterone, on the other hand, promotes facial hair growth while slowing the development of hair on the head.

This could explain why women can find a bald man sexy. Because it is touching something intrinsic that says to the woman, "This man has high testosterone so is strong and fertile." And, because the baldness is progressive, it also indicates the man has been around for long enough for his hair to stop growing, thus he has the skills to survive so would be a good mate/provider.

In the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, there is a commandment not to shave the corners of the head. Much speculation as to the "why" of this. And some believe it relates to God's other "law" of not harvesting the corners of a field and leaving said corners to God. So maybe the Jewish God has a facial hair fetish? Or it indicates the men belong to God for they have not harvested their facial hair? Who knows?

Cats, it also seems according to this study, really do not like men with long dark beards, are indifferent to men with short beards and are confused and/or disturbed by men with beards that are incomplete and to a lesser degree by men whose beards have missing parts.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, also, it would seem, discourage beard wearing/growing without actually coming out and saying it. It is implied but not stated. As it is not specifically in any Watchtower literature, the assumption is that Joseph Rutherford, the second president of the Watchtower Society, was responsible for the beard phobia - maybe because beard wearing reminded him (and others) of the Watchtower's founder Charles Taze Russell, who sported a full beard. As with most modern-day businesses, when a new person comes in to replace an old person, everything the old person did or used to do is discarded and replaced by the new person's version instead. It would seem even the Jehovah’s Witnesses are prone to this.

And just when you thought it was safe to go to your tiddly-winks support group, there comes the National Association for the Promotion of Beards in Society (NAPBIS). Whose aim is to "Campaign for Fair Representation of Beards in Society." What the? What's next? Affirmative action for beard wearers?

Ever seen a fight break out in public involving a man with a beard? Could that mean that beard wearers are more-placid? Or maybe more intelligent as they never get into fights in the first place? Or maybe, those who shave are aware of all the time and money they have spent/wasted on a pointless activity and are mad as hell.

So there you have it: Beards have a reproductive function by means of being a silent communicator to let women know the man is fertile and a good likely provider.

One Ring To Bind Them

Watched Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The King the other night. Even though I had read the book, and seen the first dismal attempt at turning the story into a movie, all those years (decades) ago, I had to see how much of the essence of LOTR was transferred into the movie.

I am pleased to say, the entire underlying message of the book is clearly there for those with eyes to see. For those without eyes to see, it is just a story.

So what is the underlying message?

It's...

Not just yet my little pork chops. First some analysis of the basis of the story. A flaw revealed, if you will.

Ok. So LOTR is set a few thousand years after the first battle to save middle earth from the evil lord Sauron (you know he is the evil one because his name sounds like a fabric).

In the first battle men had mastered the art of iron and was able to craft steel weaponry. Long bows. Catapults. Spears. Helmets. Everything we attribute to the middle ages of our time (middle earth / middle ages... hmmm).

Unlike our world, it seems those in middle earth are utter morons. I mean, they mastered iron and then progressed no more. That is where they stayed. In a perpetual mediaeval-like existence. Guns failed to materialize in the thousands of years after the first battle. So too, it seems, did any mode of transport other than a horse.

It wasn't as if there was a powerful religion keeping everyone in the dark. No. The people of middle earth were, for all intents and purposes, free to create all manner of wonderfulness. Alas, they didn't. They did not advance one single tiny miniscule iota in at least two thousand years.

Which begs the question: "How did they advance to the point they did in the first place?"

After all, it is obvious the inhabitants of middle earth are quite content to live "as is." So how did they first get beyond throwing rocks to the stage they smelted metal and built great monuments if they had an inherent "lets just keep things how they are" in them?

Maybe I shouldn't ask such question because it is not relevant to the story. And, it is a story after all, isn't it? Isn't it?

Anyway. That is my main beef with the story. The fact that the entire middle earth population failed to advance in thousands and thousands of years of free living.

Now to the message hidden in plain sight within the movie.

Let me just say: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Let me also say: Those who seek power should not be given it. Those who don't want it should be given it because they will fulfill their duty so as to be rid of the power they have been burdened with.

The above two points are endlessly repeated throughout the story and movie. Those who seek power (the ring) are baddies. Frodo who wishes he didn't have it and who tried to give it away numerous times, does what needs to be done to rid himself of the burden. Only to finally succumb to the corrupting power of absolute power at the end. But finally glad to be rid of it when all is said and done.

The Steward of Gondor even refused to hand over the power he had been granted. He was affected by his own version of absolute power and it destroyed him in the end.

Gollum's lust for the power he had, and then lost, also drove him to ruin. As it did the evil fabric wizard (Sauron).

Another underlying message beside the power one, is brought forth almost smack-in-the-face style in the final movie of the trilogy. It is when Strider goes to demand the ghost of dead men past, fulfill their obligation as they promised all those years ago.

The Fellowshiip of The Ring is a lesson in promise making and keeping the obligations you set yourself. Another theme carried through the trilogy.

Power and Keeping Your Word constantly run throughout the LOTR. Did you spot it? If not, watch the movies again, and this time, pay attention to the ring's symbolic nature of power and how much hinges on people keeping their word.