Thank you to all of those who serve and sacrifice so that I can live free.

Seriously. Thanks.

Amazing.

Alli and I had two free tickets to the Fork & Screen left over that we needed to use up before the end of January. With all the critical acclaim that Slumdog Millionaire has received up to now, we thought we should check it out before the Oscar nominations come out this week.

I started seeing buzz about Danny Boyle’s tale of love and redemption in Mumbai a few months back and I still have yet to see a poor review.

Slumdog Millionaire centers around a young man named Jamal Malik, who has gotten onto the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and is very near to winning the grand prize of 20 million rupees (approximately half a million dollars), a life-changing amount, especially for someone from the slums of Mumbia like Jamal.

But Jamal is not a typical “slumdog”, a fact we find through flashbacks to his childhood and teenage years. He grows up on the streets with his brother Salim, getting into shenanigans of escalating seriousness.

While this movie certainly shines a light on the poverty of Mumbai and the lengths at which people will go to survive, it’s not about poverty. Slumdog Millionaire is a story of love and determination. Danny Boyle’s film is beautifully photographed, well-acted and very moving. It’s an enjoyable movie that I am glad I saw before the Oscars.

However, I still don’t feel like it was better than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. There were times when I wanted to be surprised or taken aback during Millionaire, but found it somewhat predictable. I enjoyed it still, but I wasn’t blown away in the same way that I was with Fincher’s movie.

Still, it is definitely worth seeing and I very much recommend it.

I know that Bernard Madoff is likely guilty.

He cheated investors out of not millions but billions of dollars. He is the essence of greed in a world that is in an increasing struggle. His clients were rich folks, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be stolen from.

But this isn’t a story about Bernie Madoff, but rather a complaint about the unruly paparazzi. I saw a video clip of the scene when this picture was taken on the Today Show this morning. I saw a man trying to walk down the street in Manhattan accosted by a swarm of hungry paparazzi so desperate to get “the shot” that one of them even committed light assault by pushing Madoff back far enough for him to get a better picture.

If we can provide oversight to the Big Three, why can’t we rein in these paparazzi who are completely out of control? I know that most of these folks probably should understand that it is part of what comes with being a celebrity, but everyone has a right to privacy that is just not afforded to folks when they are considered a part of the “public domain”.

All for a good shot? It’s a good thing I’m not a celebrity because I’d regularly be appearing before the courts for knocking fools with cameras out.

This garbage about Barney, the Bush’s dog, biting the Reuters reporter is ALL OVER THE NEWS, even trumping stuff like, you know…THE STOCK MARKET DROPPING OVER 900 POINTS IN TWO DAYS.

Now that the presidential election is over, these “journalists” don’t have a clue what to talk about so they are covering this story about a DOG WHO BIT A GUY. You know…this sort of thing only happens 4.7 million times each year.

Hey, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News…I’ve got a story for you…the President’s cat is stuck in a tree.

GASP.

Today is officially Blog Action Day, one day every year that bloggers across the world take time to focus on a specific topic and bring awareness about it. This year, the selected issue is poverty, something that affects millions of individuals worldwide.

The ONE Campaign to end Global Poverty is an amazing organization that was started by Bono of U2. I’ve blogged about it before, but it is worth mentioning again. Since today is Blog Action Day, I encourage you to join an organization like ONE and help to shine a light on the issue of global poverty. You can check out the presidential candidates’ stances on global poverty at ONE Vote ‘08 and compare them here.

I also encourage you to sign the petition to send a message to the next president to keep our global commitments to this cause. No matter how tough our economic times get, people continue to suffer abroad and it is important for us to be vigilant in our support for the eradication of global poverty and HIV/AIDS.

Speakers include such folks as Bono, Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Clinton, Frank Gehry, Peter Gabriel, Seth Godin and Al Gore. The motto of the conference is “Ideas worth sharing” so I thought I’d share one today.

The above video is “rock star physicist” Brian Cox talking about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Europe. The LHC is a fascinating piece of scientific machinery and to hear someone like Cox describe its purpose is nothing short of remarkable. Cox purports that there is an equation that helps to explain the universe and how it works, but it requires one small little thing – a subatomic particle called the Higgs particle that has not yet been discovered.

I mention this because it is a fascinating piece of science. This Higgs particle is what gives matter its mass. It is a part of everything, yet has not yet been seen by scientists, but is essential to proving all their theories and such. According to Cox, it’s what gives matter its mass. To me, the Higgs particle sounds an awful lot like the presence of a power greater than ourselves.

Part of the goal of the research at the LHC is to try and find sub-atomic particles not yet seen, like the Higgs particle. I don’t claim to be an expert on all this scientific stuff, but I think it’s completely fascinating. Scheduled to be turned on sometime this summer (I think…the date is a bit difficult to find), the LHC will answer some pretty big questions about the universe. Or maybe it will just raise more…

Discuss.

The total came to $91.20. 

After I got over the initial sticker shock, I remembered something I’ve been telling myself since gas went over $3.00/gallon – at least I don’t live in Sierra Leone, where gas is $18.42/gallon. Actually, what I’ve been telling myself is that higher gas prices will hopefully result in something better in the long run.

Here’s what I mean. The United States has long relished in being a favored nation when it comes to petroleum and like with a lot of things, Americans have gotten “fat and happy” with paying the 7th-lowest price for gas in the world (outside of the Middle East). The only places that pay less than us are places like China, which now consumes more gas than we do, and Venezuela, which has communism to thank for that.

The reason that higher gas is a good thing is that it’s finally getting people to care when they go to the pump. And when American people care about something, things start to happen. People like me start to reconsider driving their SUVs and trying to figure out ways to ride the bus. Senators and representatives realize that their constituents are getting angry and for them to get re-elected (the goal of any congressperson), they have to figure out a way to fix the problem. That means leaning on oil companies not to lower prices, but to take their record profits and innovate, which is the what Americans are good at.

They also have to lean on the auto manufacturers who are taking entirely too long to get to more sustainable types of energy to run our vehicles. But Americans are going to have to understand that all of this comes at a cost. In the short term, we may have to pay higher gas prices and that sucks, but in the long run, I think it’s going to be better.

At least I hope so.

High gas prices across the nation are causing people to drive less and less because the result of higher fuel prices is that people must conserve money to make sure they can pay for more necessary things like food and shelter.

I know I’m not the first person to say, this, but I’m going to say it anyway.

Higher gas prices are a good thing.

The United States consumes more fuel than every other nation on the planet. It makes sense that we should probably pay less for it since we use more, right? This is true. However, we’ve grown accustomed to such low gas prices that any spike at the pump results in us crying foul and calling for boycotts of Shell and any other oil company that sells gas.

And while it’s true that oil companies like ExxonMobil and BP have made more money in the last several years than ever, I still don’t think we pay enough for gas.

Boycotting specific gas stations really doesn’t hurt anyone but the gas station owner, who operates on a very very slim margin. Out of the $3.34 per gallon (the price at the Quik Trip I pass on my way to work), the gas station actually profits a very small percentage, with the majority going to the oil company and the refineries to pay for the crude and the cost of refining it.

Oil companies are making huge profits because we still have yet to temper our consumption of oil. High gas prices have not done anything to the way that we live our lives. I still drive my SUV from Olathe to Fairway by myself every day, filling up once per week for $60+ each time.

Maybe when gas reaches $4 per gallon, I’ll actually get serious about taking the bus because it will finally be worth the huge hassle (we’re talking about 2 transfers and about a 2-hour commute to go 20 miles) to actually ride it. I imagine there are others out there who think the same way.

That’s why higher gas prices are a good thing. Maybe they will finally encourage us who consume more oil than any other nation (although China’s nipping at our heels) to change the way we think and put pressure on those who can do something about it to actually…do something about it.

I still believe that the American people have a say. It’s one of the reasons why I support Barack Obama. He’s someone who I believe will take the voice of the people under consideration when developing legislation. The issue is that people don’t care enough about it right now to really do something about it. We can’t rely on corporations like oil companies and car companies to magically do the right thing. They are going to do what is most profitable because they are still profit-based companies. They don’t owe you lower gas prices. It’s up to you to stand up and say, “If that’s how you’re gonna play it, then I’ll just change my lifestyle entirely.”

This is the only way we’re actually going to get viable alternative fuels and good mass transit in bigger cities – by actually telling people that they suck.

This isn’t an Earth Day post, but was inspired by a discussion I heard on the radio on the way into work. The host was outraged by the high gas prices and brought in an expert who basically said, TOUGH. And I agree. It’s time for people to get used to $4 per gallon gas because it’s not coming down anytime soon. Hopefully, it will inspire some folks to do something about it.

(And to those of you who are going to suggest that I get a different car, the answer is no. This one’s paid for.)

So there you go. I’m not sure if I’ll receive anymore than that, but hopefully, I’ll get a picture of the cow later. But I doubt it.