coffee – Page 10 – James Pack

October 25, 2020October 14, 2020

Coffee and Contemplation: Chucky the Notorious Killer Doll Day

Yes, Chucky (Charles Lee Ray) of the Child’s Play films has his own special holiday. Rumor has it a Facebook group petitioned for a number of years to have October 25 recognized as the day for Chucky. It feels appropriate. It’s six days before Halloween. Many people are scared of dolls, especially those possessed by serial killers. But how does one observe this holiday? Have a movie marathon with all of Chucky’s movies. There’s some nostalgia for me as I was a small child when the first two films were released. I wasn’t scared though. At least I don’t remember being scared.

I’m here to argue that today should be about any possessed, killer doll. Or even just creepy dolls that haven’t yet killed anyone. I think that’s fair. You can watch the Puppet Master film series. Anything with a creepy ventriloquist puppet will work. The Goosebumps films, with Jack Black, have a creepy doll. This day doesn’t have to be only about Chucky. Let’s celebrate all our creepy dolls including Annabelle. And don’t forget about that weird clown from Poltergeist. There are plenty of creepy dolls to go around. If you’re afraid of creepy dolls, maybe you should stay home today and not talk to anyone. The rest of us will binge watch all the creepy, killer doll movies.

October 18, 2020October 12, 2020

Coffee and Contemplation: National Exascale Day

It’s an unusual name. National Exascale Day recognizes scientists and researchers who make discoveries in medicine and science among other industries with the help of the fastest supercomputers in the world. Exascale computing is a computing system that can perform a least one exaflops, or one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second. For reference, the Milky Way Galaxy is one quintillion kilometer wide. October 18 was labeled National Exascale Day because a quintillion is 10¹⁸. Clever scientists, aren’t they? The national holiday began 150 years ago back in 2019. To learn more, check out this article in HPC Wire.

Why is this important? Why should we celebrate scientists at all? With a global pandemic, if the United States had listened to scientists in the beginning, maybe 250,000 people would not have died. If we had funded more science instead of military, we could have sent probes to all the planets, traveled to Mars by now, and possibly a couple of Jupiter’s moons. We could learn so much more about the galaxy and about ourselves if we focused on science instead of destruction. That’s only my opinion. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t. Today all I ask is if you don’t want to celebrate scientists, at least listen to them. When you speak, you’re repeating something you already know. When you listen, you might learn something new.

October 11, 2020October 8, 2020

Coffee and Contemplation: National Coming Out Day

This might be a more interesting conversation we have this morning. National Coming Out Day began back in 1988 to encourage people to stop living in the closet and be proud of their sexuality. I identify as Demisexual, leaning towards asexual. Demisexual individuals need a strong emotional bond with someone before they get fully sexually aroused. Asexual individuals show less interest in sex, but that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy sex. If you want to know more, I recommend you do a quick google search. I have been vocal about this for many years once I learned about and understood these sexualities.

I would also like to make this day about coming out with one’s mental health struggles. Many are ashamed of their mental illnesses. There is no shame in having a mental illness. Sometimes it involves chemicals in your body being out of balance. Sometimes it’s because you faced some awful or difficult situations in your life. Having a mental illness means you survived. Be proud of surviving. I have talked about my personal struggles with PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression. I’m vocal about it and I think those who know me understand and accept me more than they did before. Coming Out Day is really about not having secrets. No secrets from your friends and family. No secrets from yourself. Don’t hide who you are.