Batman is one of my favorite superheroes and arguably one of the most popular ones as well.  The story has been told many times from different angles throughout the years but I most enjoy Christopher Nolan's renditions in the most recent trilogy.  Both critical acclaim and box office success also mean that mostly everyone else agrees as well.

The reason most people are drawn to the story of Batman is that he is the most alike to anyone of us; except for the fact that he was born into a family of billionaires.  He doesn't have any superpowers that he got from being bitten by a radioactive spider or because he was born on an alien planet, he just goes out there night after night beating up bad guys with his fists.  Oh and I guess also because he uses his billions of dollars to create fancy weaponry that the U.S. Army doesn't even have but that is besides the point I'm trying to make.  As Nolan notes several times in the most recent films, Batman is an idea whereas Bruce Wayne is just a man.

Batman to me is a symbol of what Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman refers to in his seminal masterpiece on behavioral psychology, Thinking Fast and Slow, as " the glue that holds societies together".  It happens in the chapter entitled "Bad Events", where Kahneman is describing the concept of altruistic punishment.  He says that experiments looking at MRI results of people that punish others for what they did to someone else actually resulted in increased activities in the "pleasure centers" of the brain.  He notes, "It appears that maintaining the social order and the rules of fairness in this [way] is its own reward."  

It would seem that Batman is fighting crime anonymously all those years because it actually gives him pleasure, that it makes him feel good to right the wronged.  He enjoys punishing criminals that unfairly get to walk because of an unjust legal system.  To him, the personal punishment he takes is worth it because of the social good that could come out of it.

When you start to think of it that way, Nolan's version of the Batman series becomes even more interesting and, therefore, even better than you already thought it was.

// I have to add that when I went to Amazon to get the link for Thinking Fast and Slow, I noticed that the Kindle version was only $2.99.  Three dollars!  Even though I already have it in hardcover, I can't pass up the opportunity to be able to take it wherever I go for only three bucks

Soooo I don't post often at all, I've posted two quick notes with one of them being about what I will post.  But every month I pay $5 to keep my PostHaven account active after contemplating discontinuing it.  I invariably come to the conclusion that I will start posting more but each month goes by and I don't.

So why do I keep paying $5 a month?

The truth is I'm a private person, an introvert who likes to keep most of my thoughts to myself, but I struggle with being more public.  On Facebook I only post funny pictures or things I think my friends will find interesting but not nearly as much as others.  On Twitter I predominately retweet sentiments I agree with or find funny because it's easier and most of the time somebody else can put into words what I'm thinking better than I can.  The only thing I posted semi-regularly on is a music blog I was using with some friends but that was mainly an easy way to share new music with them.

So why do I keep paying $5 a month when I struggle with posting at all?

Because I want to in the future.  I want to share my thoughts with whoever is willing to read them with the hope that they lead to different thoughts on the other end or are just found interesting.  I keep paying each month because I feel it'll force me to post more often than if the site were free.  That might not make sense to most but the small extrinsic motivation keeps me hopeful that I will start to change and open up.  So that's what I'll continue to do, hoping that one day I'll change my ways and become part of the person I wish to be.

And that starts by doing this

I continue to love and be impressed by what comes out of Google nowadays.  Google Streetview Treks is only the latest new idea.  Being able to look at streetviews of actual hikes and places where the car can't go will only help to open the world's eyes to what is out there.

It's another in the long line of ideas that just makes sense when you first hear about it, like it should have been done a long time ago.  But that's how you know it's a great idea -- because everyone gets it.  

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/

They're also offering to lend the equipment to people and organizations that can get to those remote locations

http://www.google.com/maps/about/partners/streetview/trekker/

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."