Gangs and Government

I was reading a story the other day about a guy, here in town, who robbed a coffee Kiosk last November. They finally found him and the story was a follow up based on his arrest. His partner in that robbery was shot and killed by an employee of the coffee shop. It was mentioned in the comments that the guy they just arrested was a gang member.. This led my thoughts to an interesting idea... When "gangs" is mentioned, most people automatically think 'Bloods' and 'Crips'... The colors for those gangs are red and blue... Red and Blue? Where else do you have those 2 colors currently competing? 

http://media.photobucket.com/image/bloods%20and%20crips/blood826/BlaaozandCrips.jpg?o=49

Democrats and Republicans, that's where...

http://media.photobucket.com/image/democrats%20and%20republicans/kenoshamarge/Adonkeyandanelephant.jpg?o=31

When you really think about it, Government parties are really just a different flavor of gang mentality. Of course, the Bloods and Crips don't use Donkeys and Elephants as representives for their symbols... They have hand signals and tag symbols instead... Generally speaking, it is probably safest to stay clear of all gangs, including the government flavor!

I know, there will be some who read this and be all offended and stuff... I mean no offense, just another random rambling.

Color theory

 [IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/skittleslove/color-9.jpg[/IMG]

As you can probably tell from my blog, I like color... This got me thinking.

Did you know that it has been scientifically proven that our taste buds change about every 7 years? So when you go to eat something you used to like and find that you no longer like it (or vice versa) it is probably due to the fact that you hit that 7 year mark somewhere between this time you ate whatever and last time. Of course, your sense of smell also plays a part in how you taste things, but that is not what this blog is actually about.

 [IMG]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr118/catspjamas_/Color/Itten-Color-Wheel_RGB20copy.jpg[/IMG]

Color theory! It is the belief that a color can influence behavior, mood, and even action. For instance, take the color red. Red is a color of alertness and hunger. All emergency vehicles have red flashing lights and it is supposed to alert us to pull over. When you see the flashing red police car lights in your rear view mirror, you pull over... Well, most of us do anyway, there are those who run. When traffic lights turn red, it is to alert us to stop so that we don't crash into another car who has a green light. The color red (and yellow) is also supposed to illicit a feeling of hunger  or a desire to eat. Take McDonald's; do you think that it is so successful because of its healthy and amazing tasting food? Probably not! 

 [IMG]http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq125/jd99_photos/180px-Mcdonalds_golden_arches_sign.jpg[/IMG]

Unless I am traveling, I don't really eat there, but even my favorite fast food restaurant's sign has quite a bit of red in it... Wendy's.

 [IMG]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj103/T_i_2007/wendys.jpg[/IMG]

Which, by the way, I have currently been on a red kick.. Especially red and white stripes, like the old fashioned candy canes. I think if I was to paint our fence out back, I would paint the boards red and white, alternating colors. I've never been particularly drawn to red, so this is new for me.. It started around Christmas 2009 but I found myself really really drawn to red this Christmas. My client's family put a tree up for him that had a string of green lights along with a string of red lights, with little bottles of Smirnoff vodka for the decorations. HOW CUTE!! Made me wanna go out and reproduce it next year, assuming I am still in a red kick...

[IMG]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/yamirose/cane.jpg[/IMG]

My main question though, is why do we have color preferences? When I was younger, I had about a 2 year purple stint. Everything I wore was purple or had purple in it.. Or some variegated shade of purple.. I even had purple jeans. Purple, purple, purple. I would have been ecstatic had the whole world been made up of shades of purple... While I still like the color purple, it is not my favorite color, by any means. I have gone through many color phases, many of which were black. The black, I wore because I was either depressed, uncomfortable with my weight or a mixture of the two. Maybe black is a "confused" color. I hate to think of it as a depressing color. I mean, there are people who are "goth" that wear lots of black, but aren't necessarily depressed, just confused... or maybe even uncomfortable. I could see black signifying confusion and discomfort. I mean, if the lights go out all of a sudden and it is pitch black, most people feel confused or uncomfortable... Those might recede a bit but until the lights come back on, there is still some of both. Try going to the bathroom in the pitch black dark. If you are like me, and don't often keep the TP on the roller thing, you can find yourself plenty confused and uncomfortable trying to find it in the dark!

But in all seriousness... Is the color theory related to our color preferences? Or, is it something else like our taste buds that change every so often due to some scientific reason. A chemical change in the body? Hormones? It is an interesting thing to ponder, in my opinion. I wonder if there has been any study done on it? I am sure that there are more pressing studies to be done before this one gets hit upon, like actual health and human nature studies... but, who knows, they have done far less impressive studies as well. I guess, we will just have to wait and see... assuming, of course that it hasn't already been done...

Until next time!!!