A Hero in the Night, Apparently

http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2010/08/hero-profile-43-mr-jack.html
I got featured on Heroes in the Night. (^^)

One year ago, I was looking on Wikipedia at people like Superbarrio, Master Legend, Superhero, Zetaman, Dark Guardian. Trying to get into contact with Dreamer, Mr. Silent and others. Thinking about what it would be like to ever meet up with any of these people and meet them, see what they were like. I did not even have a name back then, or any idea how I would go about getting to actually do these things with my situation.

But I worked. And a year later, I am happy beyond compare.

The people I have met in the community are special. I would have never thought to be featured or receive such offers and attention. I never had before, so why expect different. But that has changed, and with this I can do things and make the sort of difference I want to.

It makes me proud to be called and call others RLSH. And to be mentioned in such high regard by so many great people. Thank you, Mr. Krulos, for you feature. I will do what I can to earn it.

Elaboration

Recently I was asked by Poop Knife a question, one which is rather simple in its asking but complex in its inquiry. What is evil?

I have decided to edit and expand my response to him and post it here, as I think it is a question which rather crops up quite a bit in our community. As always, let me know what you think.

For the original post, click here: http://evilsupremepizza.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-is-evil.html

~~~~~~~

I am inclined to believe, much as I do about many things, that evil is innate. That is to say, objective. That evil is an absolute thing within the world that can be conquered, manipulated, and felt. That it is real. This, however, is pretty far from what I actually think is. I will give some background first to root it.

I believe that the world we live in is completely objective, which is to say that everything in it is natural, absolutely definable, and speaks for itself without having outside influences give or take meaning from it. The issue is that people themselves are beings of pure subjectivity. We interpret, we investigate, we bias and comment and bicker and decipher, all through the scope of our own limited interaction within the realm of actuality. Humans live in this world of absolute reality, but their own interpretations and subjectivity blur it, often beyond all comprehension. This is a huge and irreconcilable issue, and one which people tend to ignore.

The reason it is ignored lies with the fact that not anybody wants to deal with things which cannot be reasoned or defined, for the fact that humans are creatures of subjectivity also means that they desire to define things in their own terms. We are all Adam giving names to the world around us, but it is a mundane practice which only really helps us to cope with the fact that the world we are living in is completely beyond our grasp in intellect. There are exceptions, but I digress.

I used to say that good and evil are absolute terms, rooted in the objective world, that you could define them as easily as a scientist defines the different types of rock. But since I have come to terms with what really is going on, I have changed that belief greatly.

Good and evil, like all things man made, are subjective creations imposed upon objectivity. They are therefor nearly impossible to define on a general basis, and almost always false in their giving. You can give estimations however. Killing is generally perceived as an evil act, and while I would like to think of it as absolutely evil, that is my own bias talking. Killing, in point of fact can be interpreted as good in some cases, but this dual nature of interpretation is only the result of the real truth. That truth is that the universe does not have an opinion or a moral compass. Man does. Actions in the universe have no intrinsic meaning associated with them; ergo, they just are. And so death in the universe is not evil, it just is. Just like everything else. Man gives it meaning, and that meaning is often that it is evil. But in the confines of this universal law of nihilistic association, this is not always so.

On this theory, the world is simple to understand, because really, there is very little to understand and find out. The laws of physics, the development of the universe, and the what, when, how, and where are all simple questions used to investigate. They are tied to understanding the mechanics of an existence that does not give meaning, but these are rarely questions of "why". "Why" is reserved for questions concerned with subjectivity, those questions of meaning. "Why" is therefor concerned with man, as the universe is so objective it does not actually have any why to speak of it is again, just is.

Evil is whatever you make it to be. It is an unfortunate thing in some ways, but in others, liberating. Evil is defined as whatever a person defines it to be. You could say that you are a supreme being of evil and the most incarnate vestige of it. That is your definition of it, and it stands. No one can argue it. It is your own reality within reality, and as such is your truth.

There is, however, a contention to be had with this, and that is the power of group subjectivity. You see, if many different, separate and subjective sources identify one thing as being something, it becomes much more powerful and real. For instance, it is one thing for you to call yourself the most evil supreme being of all time. It is quite another for 1,000 people to do so. This, this subjective collectivity of definition, is actually what I constitutes power. The fact that man levies meaning upon a world of none gives the meaning sway over man, and so man creates his own psychological cage in this way. The more power, the more agreed upon subjectivity, the more real and accepted something is.

Evil can then be thought of as a specific expression of power, particularly of concern with destruction and things that are not perceived as "morally right." But again, since evil is a subjective definition, it really does not have any actual power of itself. Beast are not concerned with evil. Their morality stems from what helps them to survive, as does ours. Humans, however, have twisted this set of primal morality into imaginary definitions and guidelines for what we like to call "society," a fancy term for animals who think they are not animals.

Evil in this case represents actions which are detrimental to the societal whole, and are agreed upon by those various subjective interpretations we were talking about earlier. In simplest terms, death can be seen as promoting the destruction of life and the ability to live, while good is promotion of creation and livelihood. Let me be clear, however. They are not actually creation and destruction, merely the promotion of such. Good and evil are not actions, just definitions of actions, and as such cannot be used to actually interact with out highly objective world. Humans forget this fact in their passion and desire to be "right," and forge ahead with foolishness derived from a sense of ego feeding.

In this light we can see that evil is completely subjective, and therefor without definition. That it is a definition of what is, but not actually anything. But we can also see, as with all things, that if subjective investigations are made and all agree upon certain definitions, we can make the completely subjective nature of such things as evil a powerful and real force. In essence, we create something out of nothing, which really is something to be astounded by.

The Emerald Avengers

Sunday, August 15th, 2010 was so much fun, and exactly what I needed to get back into the proper spirit of things.

(Left to right: SkyMan, White Baron, and myself)

It started out full of a bit of havoc. Trying to park in Seattle, changing into my costume in broad daylight in a care on the side of the street. My eyesight was poor, and I was anxious to be back in the game. But I strode up Broad St. to the Space Needle, ready for the day.

On the way, I met my first mark to help. A man sitting on a bench, looking devoid of much income and very thirsty. I had thought to bring along a case of water with me, packing as much as I could in my bag. He spoke first, pointing out not the absurdity of my suit or shoes or tie, no, but my purple gloves. I told him they were sanitized. Asking why, I answered "I do some dirty work in these," then promptly offered him a bottle of water. He was very appreciative, and called me brother, and wished me a wonderful day. A good start indeed.

As a side not, it never ceases to amaze me that while most people gawk at our gimmicks, the homeless and in need look past the mask and costume and see the person. They are the only people I ever come across in uniform who do not seem to acknowledge me being dressed like, as Meow put it, "a well dressed bank robber."

Back on topic.

They were gathered at the steps of the ticketing counter to the Space Needle. There they stood: SkyMan, fancifully dressed in his red, green and blue motif, White Baron, who seriously looks amazingly awesome in all his armored glory, and Irishman, a real treat to finally meet him even though he was not in costume.

We exchanged greetings, took a few shots, then proceeded to patrol Seattle Center for a bit. The Sunday was busy with activities and fairs of various sorts, and we were essentially tourists for a time being. Just a group of costumed crazies out on the town in that glorious heat. And was it hot!

After touring Seattle Center and speaking with several nice groups of people, we decided to move onto Pike Place. After being swindled out of five bucks for parking help from a homeless guy (I ended up parking elsewhere), we met in front of the Seattle Aquarium and began our patrol in earnest. We managed to provide water to many folks, all grateful of our gift of refreshment. We headed up and then towards Pioneer Square, when Irishman had to depart from us. I still cannot believe I actually got to meet him. It was an honor. He is a great fellow.

White Baron, SkyMan and I continued our patrol, bonding and being gawked at, handing out water to those who needed it. Once we hit Pioneer Square we turned to head back to the Viaduct, having felt pretty successful in our water handout and beginning to call it a day. We came across two security professionals guarding the Federal building. They were very supportive.

While coming up under the Viaduct, a peculiar monster on a strange vehicle stopped at the stop sign just at the intersection ahead of us.

(The monster in question, Bag Monster)

It was Bag Monster, a man on a mission. Starting in San Fransisco, Bag Monster's mission is to ride across the country to bring a simple message of conservation: use less plastic. Did you know the average person uses 500 plastic bags in a year? That is the amount he wears, and it is truly incredible.

Visit http://www.bagmonster.com/ for more information on this man's great journey to bring awareness. I fully support this man in his endeavor. His is truly an RLSH in his own right.

We talked, were interviewed by his team, and posed and took pictures with him, even video taping a spot for his advertisement. It was all so exciting, and completely unplanned.

It was truly a great day.

Come to find out that our little water patrol was actually one of three that all happened on August 15th. Thanatos in Vancouver and the Team Justice in Florida all had the same bright idea as us.

You can read about their efforts and ours here, at http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2010/08/rlsh-vs-dog-days-of-summer.html. Tea Krulos is an amazing writer. If you have not read his blog, you must start now.

We ended that night, Irishman, SkyMan, White Baron and I, as the Emerald Avengers, and I must say, that our success in helping hand out water on such a hot day is truly invigorating. It was one of the most memorable experiences to date, and I am truly excited to be back in action.

It just goes to show you that even the simplest of actions and needs can truly be a heroic act of kindness in their providing.

Stay frosty everyone.

Dusting Off

Time for a confession: it has been months since I have done anything remotely resembling work as RLSH or as Mr. Jack. And frankly, it has sucked supremely.

Worse yet, I most definitely deserved that feeling of being a near complete lie. I deserve a lot less credit than I am given. When it comes to upholding my duties, I have blown royal ass.

I have tried to ignore it, that feeling. It is an itch, deep in mind and apparently my stomach, grindingly roiling around to remind me that the life I live in the mask is dormant and false. I honestly do not feel like I have earned anything these last few months for myself. Sure, I have been busy, and not set in one place, and timing has been inconvenient and things just did not work out. So many excuses.

Time for that to stop.

I am dusting off the old mask and suiting up tomorrow to join Skyman and White Baron in Seattle to patrol, and I am so very excited to be at it again. It needs to happen more for me. Expect regular updates about my doings in the next few months, and if you do not get them, request them. Having others who expect something of you helps sometimes, and I am too often the one who does not ask for help. Here, I am.

Mr. Jack is officially about to kick ass.

Stay frosty, ladies and gents.

How to Get Cake

How to get cake, or as it also known on the internet:

CAKE OR DEATH?

(Seriously though, click on the "CAKE OR DEATH?" as it is actually a link. Please watch the video, or the rest of this post is going to make terribly little sense to you.)

When confronted with the question "cake or death," is is indeed a reasonable bet that the response will be something along the lines of "cake." Sometimes a "please" is thrown in as well, or if the questioned person is feeling particularly well spirited and in the mood they may reply along the lines of "oh yes, some cake would be quite splendid I would rather love some to have as it is one of my favorite things to ingest and consume." But only in rare occasions is the later form used. Usually, it is just "cake, please."

Honestly, try going up to a person and do this very exercise. Threaten them with either cake or death. Observe their response, give them the response desired, record your results, and continue your experiment until sufficient data has been gathered. Of course, having someone answer "death, please" will rather put a damper on conducting such a scientific inquiry and may lead you to need to cut your research short, lest the law interfere.

In all seriousness, though, how many people do you honestly know who would seriously pick death over cake, given the honest to goodness choice of the two? No one would. Given a choice between cake and death, it has been found (through the extensive sort of research mentioned prior) that approximately in the ball park of about roughly 100% of test subject mostly will answer "cake" more often than not most likely usually. This is just a rough estimate, again, but one which has been proven scientifically time and again.

Now personally, I see this as being a basic human trait: we want to live, and we want to live well, which makes the question of "cake or death" seem naturally funny to us. Normal humans, which is to say the vast majority of us, want to live happy, healthy, productive, and loving lives that they can feel good about. This has to some been seen as the quintessential goal of all humans, but let us not aspire to such big words and merely say it is a pretty good thing to want, shall we?

Within this context, we can clearly see why people choose cake at least 100% of the time in most cases. Cake is delicious.

It gives us good warm feelings inside our stomachs. No matter what type of cake you prefer, it all is, quite naturally, the most happy, healthy, productive, and loving food you could ever consume*. So what do people who want to live eat? They eat cake. Case closed on the issue of "cake or death" really.

Now to the point of this. We have established that people wish to live happy, healthy, productive, (cake) loving lives. If people want to live such lives of blissful (cake) happiness, it only comes to follow that they will desire the path that leads them to such results. If people want good (cake) lives, and they want to find the best path (to cake), then how does causing combative and unreasonably ridiculous drama fit into such a description.

Simply put, it does not.

The main reason this ever occurs is that people like attention. This selfish need for bloated self-importance stems back to times when people without such great cake filled lives wanted to seem like they too were good of live and cake. So, they found other ways besides being happy, healthy, productive, and loving to get their cake, and at the center of all these dark cake dreams is one thing: a selfish desire for attention.

Let me make this abundantly clear: if you cause drama, you will not get a happy, healthy, productive and loving life because of it. You will not even get cake. Some cases of such drama inducing have, in fact, actually led to death. And from a cakeological standpoint, this just does not make sense.

Why in the whole world would anyone ever choose death over cake? There honestly is no good reason, leading to the conclusion that the person making such drama and toying with deadly forces of anti-cakedom is being completely unreasonable. Which is, frankly, stupid as hell.

The point of this cake filled analogy is to point out one simple fact: drama is stupid, cake is good. This is not aimed at any person or people or cake in particular, merely a point which many should consider before they make a total broccoli out of themselves. Seriously, though, being broccoli sucks. Nobody likes it.

So if ever you were to remember one thing from this post, remember this, dear reader: when faced with the choice of living a good life of cake and happiness or one of stupid drama and broccoli ice cream, do not be a totally heinous ignoramus. 

Choose the cake. It is delicious cake. You must eat it.

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.

3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate. If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Tip: Additional toppings can be added. I personally recommend adding a mix of chocolate frosting and chocolate chips onto it with strawberries in the middle.

Yield: 1 12 cup Bundt cake for 12 people

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Too-Much-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx