Here, have a heart.
Part 1 -
Despite the fact that, when the end of the world comes, it will explode first, Iceland is a very nice land. Because of global warming, it will soon be a tropical paradise. With a population not much larger than Madison, Wisconsin, the people and government of Iceland cast out the "too-big-to-fail" banks, much to the chagrin of normalcy. What also makes it uber progressive, while simultaneously drunk and half-alseep, Iceland now has an awesome music scene, (which also owes some credit to Bjork and the Sugarcubes, who are not related to Yoko Ono or Yolo Tengo).
Iceland has offered political asylum to Edward Snowden - and maybe also Julian Assange. Similarly, I don't think they have mosquitoes. Therefore, if I can find sardines from Iceland, I buy them. (Ecuador is my other choice). Oh, and they also re-wrote their government - by popular input! Assuredly, this great age of Icelandic coolness will not last long, in our dastardly world. But, another thing Iceland has going for it is this:
Why Iceland is the best place in the world to be a woman: "Since 1975, the Nordic country has blazed the trail in gender equality and now, from infancy to maternity, women and girls enjoy a progressive lifestyle. But how did they achieve it?" - (I should move there, because, whether I become a woman, or want to be a man with a happy, awesome wife, it would work out well for me).
Ironically, just as everyone in the 1960's was protesting, even though they were in the most splendorific time of American wealth, this: Iceland’s women leave work at 2:38pm to protest wage gap with men: "Thousands of Icelandic women gathered in Reykjavik’s main square to demonstrate against wage inequality, despite the country topping international gender equality rankings." - (Don't think I am slighting women's rights. I am just conveying a truth of sociology, which I sadly disdain: When things get good, people demand that they get better. Why. Because humans can get to be contrarian, opportunistic consumers - which is how all great advances in justice have been accomplished - this sounds like a Simpsons episode or wut. Also, there no reason why I wouldn't support women's rights - as I have been an active advocate in the past, dawgs. I just have a habit of pointing out irony, hypocrisy or nonsense as well. That means that I think the infatuation with Clinton, despite her record, is sexist insanity. It's kinda like if I were to suggest that the Washington Redskins replace their mascot, {as they should}, with, "The Washington Black Lives" - woops - I'd be a racist for proposing this because I'm white, but not if I were black, yars, galumph. You Americans are nuts, lol. You just wait, you just wait 'till I get my boobs).
Hey. Today, I read an article by someone denouncing people who would be voting for Jill Stein, rather than global billionaire corporatism. This person said that a vote for Jill Stein was, because Jill Stein, "only has a 2% chance of winning," a kind of, "lecturing." Ugh! The whole damn thing of, "send a message with your verdict," has gotten so perverse that it is now turning around and accusing people who mind their own business, and vote their god-damn CONSCIENCE, IN PRIVATE, as, "trying to send a message - they are LECTURING US!" I mean, for god's sake - this is INSANITY!!!!!!!!"
"First, we will kill all the lecturers!"
Crazy people - crazy, crazy, crazy, craaaaaaaaaazy people!
WHERE HAS YOUR HEART GONE?
Iceland Proves Third Parties Have Legitimate And Crucial Role In Democracy: "The progressive island nation of Iceland is on the verge of ‘re-booting’ Western democracy and of proving third parties have a legitimate and important role to play in maintaining the balance of power between people and their leadership."
Part 2 -
Well, this is also nice, but.
It's about where are the best places to live, in the USA, if you value your heart. I noticed that a lot of the heart-healthy cities are also very progressive towns that I love. But, they are largely progressive because they are college towns. That means that this survey interviewed a lot of YOUNGER people who lived in those towns, who were unlikely to have had heart attacks - so far. That seriously skews the survey.
Do you want to know other factors that influence heart health? Don't live in the south, eating southern foods, or being black, or poor, or on meth, or alcohol. Large cities also tend to increase stress, and so contribute heart attacks. Also, living on the East Coast may also be a bad influence, not just because Easterners often have their heads-in-ass on arrogant display for everyone to accept, but they get all the pollution from the rest of the country...
Heart-Healthy Cities: These Spots Have the Least Heart Attacks
How Heart-Healthy Is Your City? Full Rankings of 190 US Cities
Interesting and inevitable - Can a Virus Fight Alcoholism?
I have come to the conclusion that alcohol in the system, (see also sleep paralysis), is a serious depriver of good sleep - How your brain and personality are affected by lack of sleep
Part 3 -
So, just after I posted about Native Americans respecting the sacred, I ended up watching a movie called, "Indigo." It opened up with largely Native Americans protesting the expansion of some development, encroaching upon their sacred areas. Thus, the 2003 film was prescient. I watched it and mused at how it was SO full or ordinary Oregonish people, that it seemed like it was completely made in Oregon, from Oregon stock. That turned out to be true. It also reminded me, a little, of those obscure Northeastern indie films of road-trips and relationships, which I loved so much.
The acting was bad, the script was dull and naive. The scenery was great. And the message was great - although tinged by simplistic moralism. I would recommend to parents for their kids, even though it encourages magical thinking.
Oregon has the luxury of being vastly insulated from global-entropic reality. And, so, it can make a naive, hopeful film like this. But, I once told a friend in Portland, who had told me that there were no racial problems there, "That's tell me that there are some serious racial problems coming down the road..." Just as there was for the white American 1950's.
So, Oregon tries to digest ideas about clairvoyance and Native American rights, in a very naive, Canadian, generous, trepidatious way. And it adds a backdrop of its own American mythology. That includes Christian fundamentalism.
Nevertheless, it was nice to see it trying. It was nice to see it advocating innocence and awareness as being something that can defeat the downfall of empathy and intimacy in families.
The little girl has psychic awareness, and can actually cure people of their diseases. This is positive thinking. Fanciful. I don't know what the whole idea is about these Indigo's being out there. They are connected by some grid, which is an early version of the CELL PHONE INTERNET - just watch the movie, you will se this. Kids deriving supernormal powers from GOOGLE SEARCH.
nevertheless, I believe in what is behind this, except for the moralism. The ultimate point was the girl had a heart so large that it could intervene in reality, and cure people. At least, I believe, this natural purity can cure dysfunctions, WITHOUT psychic interventions, or magical thinking.
A good enough movie - extremely brief. Recommended with skepticism. Because I have a heart.
PS - Movie music was a weird mix of Jewel plus Cranberries, trying to approximate THE INDIGO GIRLS, I guess. Also, two hot female actors pulled out of Ashland - one Native American, both skinny. This film SHOULD have had the main guy resolving things by meting with a Native American - even more-so... But maybe this sort of thing is for another topic.,...