In this great, big life of ours, I know that there's a lot of things that I think are simply fucked up. There are problems and strange occurances happening in our lives that no one just doesn't want to touch or explain...and I guess this geek is the one that has to explain it the best way that he can.
These are some of my theories on the little unsung aspects of life that no one just doesn't want to talk about.
1) Crossword Puzzles
Yes, the mighty crossword puzzle. I can thank one of my frat borthers for getting me hooked on these. For the 3 people who don't know what this is, you must fill in the spaces with the words provided in clues, and all these words interconnect with each other and have to fit the spaces as well. So if you're missing a letter to one word, you're missing the solution to 4 words itself. Then there are those long clues, like 19 Across. These are usually some multiword phrase that has a really witty clue, and usually makes no sense when solved except for a reason to tie the other 14 words together somehow.
My theory is this: Crosswords are the ultimate test of geekdom, but the clues that are given for these words seemed so witty and sophisticated that average people deem these as "Legit Quizzes." Case in point, I usually do the USA Today Crossword, and nothing makes me feel more like an idiot than spending more than 25 minutes doing one of those, because most of these words are so easy and obvious, but the clues are so freaking vague that sometimes I'm on the brink of sanity trying to figure out what word fits in the space.
Case in point, I'll use today's (9/27) crossword (note, it did not look like the one pictured). It ranged from obvious (5 letter "Ridley Scott film" = Alien), to the aformetioned vague clue, but easy word (4 letter "random number generators"...which turned out to be Dice) Then there are those words that only the intellectual elite would know that because the word either 1) fit the description of what they do or 2) have just taken the SATs. The clue for 24 across was a 4 letter word for "Apportion (with 'out')"...The word was Mete.
What. The. Fuck?! I'm pretty sure they made that word up to fit the letters into 4, 5, 21 and 26 Down. (Sesame, Antwerp, Steep, and Eder, respectively) Seriously, I've never heard of "Mete Out" or "out Mete" show me when someone actually used this. Cite your damn sources! 
Another good example, 9 Down's clue was a 6 letter word for "Solar Phenomenon." The word/phrase was "Sun Dog." The hell? I'm from Long Island and I'm fairly up to date with science and scientific slang, but I have never heard that phrase before in my life. All I have to say is this: Fuck you, Eugene Newman, author of the 9/27 crossword. Fuck you. 
2) Popularity
Ah, now onto a subject we can all relate to. Why are people popular? Why do people follow other people around? Well, here's what I have to say about it:
There are "legit" reasons that I believe cause fame and popularity: You're a politician or leader in power, you're an actor that starred in some big movie, or just made it, you're an athelete, you invented something to make the world better, you're a talented and/or funny entertainer, or you just saved the world somehow. These things make people follow these people around. It causes the press and random nobody bloggers such as myself to focus on their every move. These people become famous and popular quickly, and they can lose it just as fast.
With these "legit" factors, there are obviously my "Not Legit" factors. These include wealth, being the relative of a wealthy person, you're good-looking, someone who was recorded doing something embarassing against their will and the video of them doing it became a hit on youtube (Chocolate Rain Guy, I'm looking your way), you murdered people and/or tried to destroyed the world, and however Kevin Federline receives the attention that he so unjustly deserves despite never doing anything besides being a really crappy backup dancer and a incredibly terrible all-around person.
I think that popularity itself and its result of people following them around is simply because they want to share the success. People hang around the wealthy because they want some cash; people hang around inventors and companies so they can get free swag; people ogle good-looking people so they can have sex with them; and people hang around talented people in order to get jobs, or get them to appear in their crappy film adaptation of their crappy Sailor Moon Fanfic.
When these people do something that makes them lose this popularity, either they become old, they don't do anything for a long period of time, and/or make a really bad career choice (crappy album/tv show/movie, finding religion, appearing naked about 15 years after anyone wanted to, etc), the people that followed them around simply move on to the next thing that will somehow help their desire for free stuff, sex, promising careers, and free sex.
This segues into my next theory:
3) Corruption of Power
"The weakness of the power is the power itself." I believe that this quote came from an episode of the Zoids anime, but anime or not, this quote still rings true. To me, the only thing people in power and popularity want is to keep their power, and do anything they can to keep it.
Think about it...in my view, it's the reason that government won't actually do anything. The politicians would say what the people want to hear, like promises for health care, better taxes, education reform, housing reform, and ending the so-called war that should not have been started in the first place. But these things just don't end up happening.
But before I get that political, I'll just say that running for office costs money. And where does this money come from? Not the politicians. They get the money from fundraising, which leads to Lobby Groups like various companies paying for a politician, and I'm pretty sure the process is basically "vote this way or else you won't get any of our money!" This is why I think that we'll never get rid of our dependence on oil, cigarettes, and universal health care.
Health Care: All of these insurance & pharmaceutical companies are just this: companies. Their goal is to make money, and that is where the process fails. By focusing on making profits, I don't see any cures coming for anything. Think about every major medicine out there today...does it actually cure your illness in one dose? Not with me, even the common cold needs about 10 bottles of Robitussin to get rid of it.
If someone actually managed to cure everything...the company would not be able to make money off of it. Everyone gets it one time and that's it. Have you seen those Stride commercials where production and profit stops because the flavor lasts long enough for someone to be satisfied with a whole package for a lifetime? Just apply that to the pharmaceutical companies, I guarantee the same thing would happen if something actually important, like muscular dystrophy, got cured.
Cigarattes: The taxes are too good. Government wants people to stop smoking. Good. They raise taxes on cigarettes, which ultimately raise the price and the assumption that people will stop buying them and smoking.
Double-edged sword there. Yes, some people would deem the cigarettes too expensive, the taxes go to good causes and go to quit...which is where stuff like Nicorette and the Nicotine Patch come in. I work in a CVS, and a 48 pack of CVS brand nicotine gum costs $25. Don;t get me started on the patch...minimal price is around $20, and gets as high as $50. There's also the other end of the spectrum, and to quote the great Dave Attell "You don't stop buying cigarattes, you just stop buying other things." And the taxes on these cigarette packs should go to good causes...I hope.
Oil: Many oil companies have been merging to the point where there are only about 6 or so different gas stations. They can control the prices, even if they do blame fluctuating oil prices on stuff like the war, hurricanes, and damn dirty hippies. Of course, at the end of the year...Exxon-Mobil keeps breaking records for profit. Gee, maybe you can just take $1 billion of your $520 Billion to actually better fund your damn workers and employees! Not gonna happen. Instead, I'm pretty sure this goes to lobbying. They give the politicians money to not end our dependence on oil or create fuel-efficient cars so they can make money. Which reminds me...
4) Electric Cars: As much as i'm all for fuel-efficient cars, I have but one argument for electric & hybrid cars: Where do you think they electricity that the chargers plug into come from? A candy cane field, no doubt. Probably some big-ass Tesla Coil...but something has to power that too.
Where was I? Oh yes, corruption. Basically, this desire for greed and power just goes too far, and I have to wonder why certain people are still in power, even with other countries hating them. You know it's a bad sign that war isn't going to be popular when Germany doesn't want to get involved in it.
This is also another reason why wages are so low and rarely raised. Whenever minimum wage is brought up to be raised, I sometimes wonder that they think "Why would we care? We're all rich!"
Have I been strucking a chord yet? I hope so. How will we solve these issues? I don't know, I'm just some blogger just ranting at 2 in the morning, and I want to go to sleep.
Got anything that grinds your gears? Tell me, and I might have a theory about it! 
(Seriously, I appreciate the comments, and I know that more than 6 people read this)