CDC says drug deaths surpassing traffic fatalities in more states - Kingsport Times-News Online
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30 September 2009
Lessening Lessons
A friend of mine in the education business suggested I look into the writings of John Taylor Gatto as an insight into the views of a grade school teacher. Here is what I found:
Standardization and cookie-cutter education make for factory-style processes with economies of scale for society at large. Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? It provides a common frame of reference for millions of people, good or bad.
I have only been teaching formally for a few months but have friends and family who've taught for dozens of years. Thus, I have spent time separating their perennial work-related complaints from their observations of the teaching process.
What have I concluded? We as a species want conformity and individuality at the same time. We want children who find creative ways to live in sports, music, medicine, academics, etc., and we want children who conform to good behavioural patterns. We label children early and reinforce our own conformity by enforcing the labels through a variety of methods - testing, grouping, encouraging, chiding.
I remember being a child. I thought for myself at an early age, just as most of my peers seemed to do (or at least most of them externally displayed this capability). We also reflected the early behavioural modification of our parents, including their beliefs and habits. When in school, our individual behavioural patterns were slowly brought together into a group norm. The more an individual resisted conforming to the norm, the more recognition the child received from the school authority figures - some resistance was encouraged to be acted out in sports, arts, music or academics while other resistance was punished because a child had no readily-usable, categorized outlet for the abnormal behaviour.
Resistance is not futile if we can find ways to allow students to be individuals in a manner which encourages their growth into adulthood. Destructive behaviour can be creative if the student is allowed to find out why s/he is acting out destructively (without physically harming others outside the sports field, for instance). In other words, teaching kids how to succeed in real life situations rather than massive slow-burn rote learning.
I don't have answers. I only have personal observations of myself and others who've succeeded in the education business, both as students and educators. I watched kids disappear from the system and never heard from them again. If they're alive, they display the results of an education system that couldn't support them.
Some people will not succeed in a formal learning system. Some people will succeed without a formal learning system. Most of us are going to have successes and failures in any system because of our innate capabilities. How do you create an education system that accommodates and encourages our successes without punishing us for failures in areas that we have to participate but have no regular or exceptional capability with which we can succeed (or even survive)?
http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.htmlAs we begin the long, arduous task of examining reformation of the child education process, it helps to see multiple views on the subject. Of course, we adults have ourselves as children to remember what schooling felt like and whether it helped (or hurt) our learning process. Many of us have children getting a formal education somewhere, including in classrooms, homes and on the street.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
Standardization and cookie-cutter education make for factory-style processes with economies of scale for society at large. Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? It provides a common frame of reference for millions of people, good or bad.
I have only been teaching formally for a few months but have friends and family who've taught for dozens of years. Thus, I have spent time separating their perennial work-related complaints from their observations of the teaching process.
What have I concluded? We as a species want conformity and individuality at the same time. We want children who find creative ways to live in sports, music, medicine, academics, etc., and we want children who conform to good behavioural patterns. We label children early and reinforce our own conformity by enforcing the labels through a variety of methods - testing, grouping, encouraging, chiding.
I remember being a child. I thought for myself at an early age, just as most of my peers seemed to do (or at least most of them externally displayed this capability). We also reflected the early behavioural modification of our parents, including their beliefs and habits. When in school, our individual behavioural patterns were slowly brought together into a group norm. The more an individual resisted conforming to the norm, the more recognition the child received from the school authority figures - some resistance was encouraged to be acted out in sports, arts, music or academics while other resistance was punished because a child had no readily-usable, categorized outlet for the abnormal behaviour.
Resistance is not futile if we can find ways to allow students to be individuals in a manner which encourages their growth into adulthood. Destructive behaviour can be creative if the student is allowed to find out why s/he is acting out destructively (without physically harming others outside the sports field, for instance). In other words, teaching kids how to succeed in real life situations rather than massive slow-burn rote learning.
I don't have answers. I only have personal observations of myself and others who've succeeded in the education business, both as students and educators. I watched kids disappear from the system and never heard from them again. If they're alive, they display the results of an education system that couldn't support them.
Some people will not succeed in a formal learning system. Some people will succeed without a formal learning system. Most of us are going to have successes and failures in any system because of our innate capabilities. How do you create an education system that accommodates and encourages our successes without punishing us for failures in areas that we have to participate but have no regular or exceptional capability with which we can succeed (or even survive)?
Cloud Computing
When all is quiet and there are no major motivators for putting on my thinking cap, I sit and make few movements. I watch the world around me. I breathe. I blink. I perspire. I don't call my existence in that moment meditation because I am making no concrete effort to be. I just am in the moment, free from contemplating my existence.
Do we teach ourselves and our children to sit still without active observing? No need for distractions. No food. No exercise. No input from others or output from us.
Outside of this moment, I will take off my thinking cap and watch the Earth rotate, the Sun passing overhead and tree shadows passing through the forest. I will not compare what I see to anything. Later, I will return to the world of activity - prepare lunch, prepare work assignments, take care of business in general.
Jargon and language influence our lives. The phrase "cloud computing" has meaning to those in the high-tech field. For me, "cloud computing" is also about quiet existence in the moment. A cloud does not exist but we see water particles hanging together in the air and call them clouds. Our lives and our societies are the same. When we see this, we understand why we should take time to get away from active participation in the world around us and just sit for a quiet moment and do nothing but exist. No concentration on your breathing. No focusing on objects real or imaginary. Just sit and be, no matter who you are or what your background is.
Our species has come a long way as entities who exist but who do not exist. We have perpetuated our identities by assimilating our surroundings. Now is as good a time as any to recognize that our surroundings have been assimilating us at the same time. Positive reinforcement. Achievements beyond the imagination of ourselves. More achievements yet to come.
I am here because of all the cultures I have read about and participated in, making me part of the lives of all seven billion of us. Some part of you is in some part of me, too - mainly positive, I hope, but also a little negative, I know. I seek the positive first of all, accepting that negative aspects of my life, your life and our societies can create positive influences in the long-term but only if we take time to be conscious of what we're doing to/for one another.
Time for being for a moment. Talk to you (me) later.
Do we teach ourselves and our children to sit still without active observing? No need for distractions. No food. No exercise. No input from others or output from us.
Outside of this moment, I will take off my thinking cap and watch the Earth rotate, the Sun passing overhead and tree shadows passing through the forest. I will not compare what I see to anything. Later, I will return to the world of activity - prepare lunch, prepare work assignments, take care of business in general.
Jargon and language influence our lives. The phrase "cloud computing" has meaning to those in the high-tech field. For me, "cloud computing" is also about quiet existence in the moment. A cloud does not exist but we see water particles hanging together in the air and call them clouds. Our lives and our societies are the same. When we see this, we understand why we should take time to get away from active participation in the world around us and just sit for a quiet moment and do nothing but exist. No concentration on your breathing. No focusing on objects real or imaginary. Just sit and be, no matter who you are or what your background is.
Our species has come a long way as entities who exist but who do not exist. We have perpetuated our identities by assimilating our surroundings. Now is as good a time as any to recognize that our surroundings have been assimilating us at the same time. Positive reinforcement. Achievements beyond the imagination of ourselves. More achievements yet to come.
I am here because of all the cultures I have read about and participated in, making me part of the lives of all seven billion of us. Some part of you is in some part of me, too - mainly positive, I hope, but also a little negative, I know. I seek the positive first of all, accepting that negative aspects of my life, your life and our societies can create positive influences in the long-term but only if we take time to be conscious of what we're doing to/for one another.
Time for being for a moment. Talk to you (me) later.
Operation Petticoat Junction Runway
"Cap'n, we've got a problem."
"I trust the opinion of a chief warrant officer. What is it, Swbovka?"
"Well, sir, it appears the submariners in the engine room want to put on a fashion show."
"Don't they know we're at war, sailor?"
"Yes, sir. That's why they want to put on the show. They think it'll ease the tension on the boat."
"I see. And what do you think?"
"Sir, I do not think. I follow orders."
"Good answer. I give you permission to speak frankly."
"Sir, they want to call the show Das Boot. Other than my objection to the title, I believe the crew would get a thrill out of the performance."
"And what's your objection to the title?"
"Sir, as you know, Das Boot is the name of a movie about a German submarine. The bravery of the men aboard that sub should be honored and not made fun of."
"Objection denied. Let them have their fun. I can see the two meanings to the title, both a sub and an article of clothing."
"Yes, sir."
"And they thought it was going to make life difficult to put women on board!"
"Well, sir, it's not actually the women putting this on."
"It's not?"
"No, sir. It's the part of the crew that we don't ask and they don't tell us about."
"Interesting. What do the women think of the performance?"
"They think it'll be great. They say it's an icebreaker they've been looking for."
"See, Swbovka. Not as bad as you thought it would be."
"No, sir. Should we broadcast the show to the Chinese and Russian subs following us around in circles?"
"Excellent idea. Speaking of icebreakers, let's make a hole in this thin Arctic ice and invite our adversaries over while our leaders argue about who gets which piece of what used to be Afghanistan for themselves. Keep up the good work."
"Yes, sir."
"I trust the opinion of a chief warrant officer. What is it, Swbovka?"
"Well, sir, it appears the submariners in the engine room want to put on a fashion show."
"Don't they know we're at war, sailor?"
"Yes, sir. That's why they want to put on the show. They think it'll ease the tension on the boat."
"I see. And what do you think?"
"Sir, I do not think. I follow orders."
"Good answer. I give you permission to speak frankly."
"Sir, they want to call the show Das Boot. Other than my objection to the title, I believe the crew would get a thrill out of the performance."
"And what's your objection to the title?"
"Sir, as you know, Das Boot is the name of a movie about a German submarine. The bravery of the men aboard that sub should be honored and not made fun of."
"Objection denied. Let them have their fun. I can see the two meanings to the title, both a sub and an article of clothing."
"Yes, sir."
"And they thought it was going to make life difficult to put women on board!"
"Well, sir, it's not actually the women putting this on."
"It's not?"
"No, sir. It's the part of the crew that we don't ask and they don't tell us about."
"Interesting. What do the women think of the performance?"
"They think it'll be great. They say it's an icebreaker they've been looking for."
"See, Swbovka. Not as bad as you thought it would be."
"No, sir. Should we broadcast the show to the Chinese and Russian subs following us around in circles?"
"Excellent idea. Speaking of icebreakers, let's make a hole in this thin Arctic ice and invite our adversaries over while our leaders argue about who gets which piece of what used to be Afghanistan for themselves. Keep up the good work."
"Yes, sir."
29 September 2009
Mild Humourous Thought of the Day
A Muslim, a Christian, a Jewish, a Buddhist, a Hindu and an atheist leader were walking down the road discussing the type of material best used to construct paths for vehicles with rubber tyres.
They talked about gravel, sand, dirt, tar, concrete, glass, brick and all the construction equipment they knew about but they couldn't reach a consensus agreement on the best road surface.
An Eskimo walked up to them and asked what they were discussing. After several minutes of listening to their arguments, the Eskimo responded.
"In my language we have many words for what you agree to call snow. The same is true for roads. A road in the mountains or in a desert requires a different surface material than driving on top of a lake."
The Eskimo's new companions looked perplexed and said that you can't drive on the surface of a lake.
The Eskimo replied. "You forgot one thing. A religious point of view doesn't solve every problem. God or nature was here before us - ice is also a road surface in the right conditions, like driving on a lake in winter."
They talked about gravel, sand, dirt, tar, concrete, glass, brick and all the construction equipment they knew about but they couldn't reach a consensus agreement on the best road surface.
An Eskimo walked up to them and asked what they were discussing. After several minutes of listening to their arguments, the Eskimo responded.
"In my language we have many words for what you agree to call snow. The same is true for roads. A road in the mountains or in a desert requires a different surface material than driving on top of a lake."
The Eskimo's new companions looked perplexed and said that you can't drive on the surface of a lake.
The Eskimo replied. "You forgot one thing. A religious point of view doesn't solve every problem. God or nature was here before us - ice is also a road surface in the right conditions, like driving on a lake in winter."
Quick Post
A shoutout to Chris B. for what he said last night - it takes courage to be ourselves when we're supposed to stay within the bounds of our job titles - at least you knew to thank others for being themselves in their job titles.
Vain Vein
I held a branch in my hand this morning. On the branch were green, drying leaves and seed pods of the sweetgum tree. Also lichen, mold and bacteria. In other words, common life on this planet. I can find no happier quiet moment so I threw the branch into the woods to enjoy more life with the rest of us - I picked up a broom and swept dead leaves off the driveway.
I had wanted to fly my RC plane today but the wind is too strong for my toy-flying ability (perfect for my toy-crashing enjoyment, however). Instead, I'll spend a moment here and then go back outside, take a walk in the area around my house and then read a book or two.
While reading the background story for an Aristophanes comedy, I juxtaposed my life on both today and the days of Athenian rule. The Athenians had defeated Persian rule and were in the middle of a relatively peaceful period before eventually seeing the defeat of their navy and subsequent decline. Fast forward 2500 years and we now have a planet completed divided into local kingdoms we call countries, some of them based on the Athenian concept of democracy and some based on the religious concept of theocracy. Monarchy or hereditary rule still exists.
I see my species in all its wonder, now or 5000 years ago, 5000 years from now or 10000 years ago. We desire variety. We desire conquest of one skill. We live because someone beside us discovered a creative way to advance our habits of living.
I am not fully conscious or conscientious. I am only aware of myself in the local environment and extend my thinking to include myself in the cosmos. I know my capacity to love is limited. In all the above cases, I learn every moment how to expand my understanding and practice of living with others.
I belong to this planet. I breath the planet's air which is full of pollen, seeds, bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, gases, molecules, atoms, smells, wind, rain, smoke, sunshine, radio signals, and dust. I am completely a part of my environment, in the food I eat, the water I drink, the skin cells that fall off of me.
So, no matter how I see myself in the mirror, no matter what societal clues I decide to label myself with, I am an Earth-bound being with an average 80-year lifespan to use as a member of my species.
My species is composed of billions of beings with many archetypes dominating our lifestyles. I see every archetype as essential to our species' survival. I also see that all of us can find ways to laugh at our lifestyles. We succeed when we seek a balance between archetypal lifestyles, knowing that archetypes rise and fall in popularity with respect to time and boredom at seeing the same archetype over and over. We want to see ourselves reflected back to us at some point ("I was born; therefore, I am important as myself and an example of others like me to the rest of my species.").
As we grow older and discover the power to motivate and control the behaviours of others, we have a natural tendency to associate with others like us and convince/coerce others to be like us. In a balanced world, we would completely accept the behaviours of others who have chosen not to be like us, knowing that once we discover our archetype tendencies, we tend not to change ourselves. At the same time, we would continue to be and act like ourselves, knowing that some behaviours are free of archetyping and that we're members of a malleable species so we will benefit from the new discoveries within the common behaviours we share (e.g., eating, breathing, muscle movement, thinking, family-rearing).
We don't live in a balanced world. Some archetypes clash. Most of us display characteristics of more than one archetype. Some of us fear the influence of other archetypes on us, our colleagues and our children. We don't want to have to think all the time about how a particular archetypal behaviour is beneficial or detrimental to our set of behaviours so we find ways, using a predetermined set of thoughts, to avoid or exclude that particular archetype. Perfectly natural behaviour - nothing the matter with feeling comfortable with who you are. As long as...
[Sometimes I wish my brain synapses were stronger so that I could better hold all seven billion of us and our myriad behaviours in my brain and not in an external computer program that requires extra maintenance to get the data I need to write these thoughts down. If I only had the money to run my own species study and promotion institute. Imagine the possibilities of having the means to study every human behaviour and build them up so that we all find ways to live with each other positively, instead of using "us vs. them" deterrent behaviour modification methods to manipulate crowd behaviour. But I digress.]
Do you know the phrase "pick on somebody your own size"? It's supposed to mean that a person who wants to fight will find a smaller opponent or victim in order to guarantee victory for the initiator of the fight. Some people also call it the "kick the dog" syndrome (the boss yells at the father, the father argues with the mother, the mother lashes out at the son and the son has no one to pass the violent behaviour to but the dog).
Life is not fair. I find my happiness in knowing that statement is true. Children get brain cancer in the womb. Good citizens die in automobile smashups for no good reason. Therefore, I seek solutions that benefit us as a species knowing that as individuals we may never have want we want or need.
I do not expect our species to unite on any one issue with the same set of beliefs. We want diversity of behaviours just like we want ecological diversity to ensure the air we breathe contains a mixtures of substances to support our biological systems. We live in a complicated ecosystem and should learn to live with complicated answers to the questions we ask about the solutions we seek.
What I cannot see today is how to keep channeling our violent behaviours into positive output. Of course, sports is a ready example. I enjoyed pummeling kids when I was a 10-year old football tackle just as much as the next kid, even though I didn't have the burning desire to go on to the next level of weight training. These days, I enjoy watching players on the field try to win the game for my side.
In business, I've always sought winning solutions and tried to make sure I won or was on the winning team, using all the legal means at my disposal to keep other companies from winning. I don't enter contests to lose (maybe there are those who do?). Of course, the desire to win is not necessarily a violent behaviour but the two are not mutually exclusive, either. We talk about a win-win situation but often when we win a contract or successfully conclude a business transaction, we celebrate victory while somebody else feels the loss, violence at a lesser degree (more mental than physical, in other words).
Grit. Determination. These are positive means to express our "fight" (from fight-or-flight) and violent behaviour.
Love. Understanding. These are other positive ways to think and act.
How do we put the two previous paragraphs together for positive everyday living, knowing that no two of us act exactly alike and life is not fair? It's a question we can't answer in a single sentence. It takes individualized approaches to the problem. One person and one day at a time. In fact, we will never answer the question because remember that we crave newness. Peace and quiet and disruption and violence all find ways to exhibit themselves in our interaction with one another - every behaviour will negatively rule the day for someone in an unfair manner, despite our best efforts to turn everything positive for everyone.
That's why I look at the bigger picture. I accept life as it is and let others describe life the way they want it for themselves. For me, the bigger picture is getting us to see each other as members of the same species and go from there, while hoping that we'll continue our species' push to explore the universe. Local issues still have to be resolved locally (although we as a species can see local issues all over the globe and reach out to help, including natural disasters and sets of local issues that a global application or approach can solve).
I picked up a tree branch today and it caused these words to pour out. I didn't hear the tree fall in the forest but it sure is hearing me type!
I had wanted to fly my RC plane today but the wind is too strong for my toy-flying ability (perfect for my toy-crashing enjoyment, however). Instead, I'll spend a moment here and then go back outside, take a walk in the area around my house and then read a book or two.
While reading the background story for an Aristophanes comedy, I juxtaposed my life on both today and the days of Athenian rule. The Athenians had defeated Persian rule and were in the middle of a relatively peaceful period before eventually seeing the defeat of their navy and subsequent decline. Fast forward 2500 years and we now have a planet completed divided into local kingdoms we call countries, some of them based on the Athenian concept of democracy and some based on the religious concept of theocracy. Monarchy or hereditary rule still exists.
I see my species in all its wonder, now or 5000 years ago, 5000 years from now or 10000 years ago. We desire variety. We desire conquest of one skill. We live because someone beside us discovered a creative way to advance our habits of living.
I am not fully conscious or conscientious. I am only aware of myself in the local environment and extend my thinking to include myself in the cosmos. I know my capacity to love is limited. In all the above cases, I learn every moment how to expand my understanding and practice of living with others.
I belong to this planet. I breath the planet's air which is full of pollen, seeds, bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, gases, molecules, atoms, smells, wind, rain, smoke, sunshine, radio signals, and dust. I am completely a part of my environment, in the food I eat, the water I drink, the skin cells that fall off of me.
So, no matter how I see myself in the mirror, no matter what societal clues I decide to label myself with, I am an Earth-bound being with an average 80-year lifespan to use as a member of my species.
My species is composed of billions of beings with many archetypes dominating our lifestyles. I see every archetype as essential to our species' survival. I also see that all of us can find ways to laugh at our lifestyles. We succeed when we seek a balance between archetypal lifestyles, knowing that archetypes rise and fall in popularity with respect to time and boredom at seeing the same archetype over and over. We want to see ourselves reflected back to us at some point ("I was born; therefore, I am important as myself and an example of others like me to the rest of my species.").
As we grow older and discover the power to motivate and control the behaviours of others, we have a natural tendency to associate with others like us and convince/coerce others to be like us. In a balanced world, we would completely accept the behaviours of others who have chosen not to be like us, knowing that once we discover our archetype tendencies, we tend not to change ourselves. At the same time, we would continue to be and act like ourselves, knowing that some behaviours are free of archetyping and that we're members of a malleable species so we will benefit from the new discoveries within the common behaviours we share (e.g., eating, breathing, muscle movement, thinking, family-rearing).
We don't live in a balanced world. Some archetypes clash. Most of us display characteristics of more than one archetype. Some of us fear the influence of other archetypes on us, our colleagues and our children. We don't want to have to think all the time about how a particular archetypal behaviour is beneficial or detrimental to our set of behaviours so we find ways, using a predetermined set of thoughts, to avoid or exclude that particular archetype. Perfectly natural behaviour - nothing the matter with feeling comfortable with who you are. As long as...
[Sometimes I wish my brain synapses were stronger so that I could better hold all seven billion of us and our myriad behaviours in my brain and not in an external computer program that requires extra maintenance to get the data I need to write these thoughts down. If I only had the money to run my own species study and promotion institute. Imagine the possibilities of having the means to study every human behaviour and build them up so that we all find ways to live with each other positively, instead of using "us vs. them" deterrent behaviour modification methods to manipulate crowd behaviour. But I digress.]
Do you know the phrase "pick on somebody your own size"? It's supposed to mean that a person who wants to fight will find a smaller opponent or victim in order to guarantee victory for the initiator of the fight. Some people also call it the "kick the dog" syndrome (the boss yells at the father, the father argues with the mother, the mother lashes out at the son and the son has no one to pass the violent behaviour to but the dog).
Life is not fair. I find my happiness in knowing that statement is true. Children get brain cancer in the womb. Good citizens die in automobile smashups for no good reason. Therefore, I seek solutions that benefit us as a species knowing that as individuals we may never have want we want or need.
I do not expect our species to unite on any one issue with the same set of beliefs. We want diversity of behaviours just like we want ecological diversity to ensure the air we breathe contains a mixtures of substances to support our biological systems. We live in a complicated ecosystem and should learn to live with complicated answers to the questions we ask about the solutions we seek.
What I cannot see today is how to keep channeling our violent behaviours into positive output. Of course, sports is a ready example. I enjoyed pummeling kids when I was a 10-year old football tackle just as much as the next kid, even though I didn't have the burning desire to go on to the next level of weight training. These days, I enjoy watching players on the field try to win the game for my side.
In business, I've always sought winning solutions and tried to make sure I won or was on the winning team, using all the legal means at my disposal to keep other companies from winning. I don't enter contests to lose (maybe there are those who do?). Of course, the desire to win is not necessarily a violent behaviour but the two are not mutually exclusive, either. We talk about a win-win situation but often when we win a contract or successfully conclude a business transaction, we celebrate victory while somebody else feels the loss, violence at a lesser degree (more mental than physical, in other words).
Grit. Determination. These are positive means to express our "fight" (from fight-or-flight) and violent behaviour.
Love. Understanding. These are other positive ways to think and act.
How do we put the two previous paragraphs together for positive everyday living, knowing that no two of us act exactly alike and life is not fair? It's a question we can't answer in a single sentence. It takes individualized approaches to the problem. One person and one day at a time. In fact, we will never answer the question because remember that we crave newness. Peace and quiet and disruption and violence all find ways to exhibit themselves in our interaction with one another - every behaviour will negatively rule the day for someone in an unfair manner, despite our best efforts to turn everything positive for everyone.
That's why I look at the bigger picture. I accept life as it is and let others describe life the way they want it for themselves. For me, the bigger picture is getting us to see each other as members of the same species and go from there, while hoping that we'll continue our species' push to explore the universe. Local issues still have to be resolved locally (although we as a species can see local issues all over the globe and reach out to help, including natural disasters and sets of local issues that a global application or approach can solve).
I picked up a tree branch today and it caused these words to pour out. I didn't hear the tree fall in the forest but it sure is hearing me type!
28 September 2009
Capitalism and financial crashes: newyorker.com
I wouldn't call this a perfectly rational assessment because who or what is perfect - at least it's quick, interesting reading along with an economical bite to eat for lunch:
Capitalism and financial crashes: newyorker.com
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Capitalism and financial crashes: newyorker.com
Shared via AddThis
Daguerréotype de la guerre
To the reader who asked why I dissed the movie industry in the statement that films are people who do not think for themselves, here's the link:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/devotees-denied-access-to-temple-used-for-shooting-julia-roberts-film_100250201.html
The afternoon is here - time for reading and putting away the computer.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/devotees-denied-access-to-temple-used-for-shooting-julia-roberts-film_100250201.html
The afternoon is here - time for reading and putting away the computer.
Return to Form
Deciduous forest. Calm. Falling leaves. "Island" from Glassworks by Philip Glass. A stack of books to read during this week's staycation:
Meanwhile, I assess Iran's missile capabilities. Others may want to isolate Iran and North Korea - I look for positive achievements. The people of Iran and North Korea need to eat and work just like anybody else. What regular work or skills can we exchange with one another to improve our lives? I don't pay attention to the overt threats or fears of the Iranian or North Korean governments, knowing that all governments must by nature prove their strength to themselves, their people and their neighbours. If an Iranian or North Korean can design, build and launch a missile-based weapon, can the same person help design, build and launch a vessel for our species to populate the Moon and Mars, joining India, United States, Europe, Brazil, Japan, China and South Korea in the new quest for outer space habitation? We need a lot of people to get a few people exploring new frontiers, especially since the horizon is no longer just an ocean separating two pieces of arable land.
As a group of goldfinches flies through the woods, I wonder about a paradigm shift. We see the Moon and Mars as barren and unable to support life when we really mean that it can't support life as we know it, expecting an atmosphere rich in oxygen, nitrogen and other pertinent gases, not to mention water.
Other people wise in the ways of nutrient production have pondered this question just like there are those who say we can build silica-based housing on the Moon using native material and not have to transport all our structures with us. In other words, instead of populating other planetary bodies with us first, should we send robotic miners and builders ahead of us to construct housing and grow/create nutrient-based input for our soon-to-arrive bodies? Maybe have contests between robotic crews on speed/quality of construction to attract regular viewers for advertising revenue to fund further development?
- Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo
- Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
- Dubliners by James Joyce
- Lysistrata by Aristophanes
- The Birds by Aristophanes
- The Random House Book of Science Fiction Stories
Meanwhile, I assess Iran's missile capabilities. Others may want to isolate Iran and North Korea - I look for positive achievements. The people of Iran and North Korea need to eat and work just like anybody else. What regular work or skills can we exchange with one another to improve our lives? I don't pay attention to the overt threats or fears of the Iranian or North Korean governments, knowing that all governments must by nature prove their strength to themselves, their people and their neighbours. If an Iranian or North Korean can design, build and launch a missile-based weapon, can the same person help design, build and launch a vessel for our species to populate the Moon and Mars, joining India, United States, Europe, Brazil, Japan, China and South Korea in the new quest for outer space habitation? We need a lot of people to get a few people exploring new frontiers, especially since the horizon is no longer just an ocean separating two pieces of arable land.
As a group of goldfinches flies through the woods, I wonder about a paradigm shift. We see the Moon and Mars as barren and unable to support life when we really mean that it can't support life as we know it, expecting an atmosphere rich in oxygen, nitrogen and other pertinent gases, not to mention water.
Other people wise in the ways of nutrient production have pondered this question just like there are those who say we can build silica-based housing on the Moon using native material and not have to transport all our structures with us. In other words, instead of populating other planetary bodies with us first, should we send robotic miners and builders ahead of us to construct housing and grow/create nutrient-based input for our soon-to-arrive bodies? Maybe have contests between robotic crews on speed/quality of construction to attract regular viewers for advertising revenue to fund further development?
Is that in liters or pounds?
One thing about having a book about the future is looking at the present as if it's the past. Today is what, the 28th day of the ninth month of the calendar year used in this part of the world and this time period? I'll flip a few years ahead and read an interview with a financial analyst from the future.
"Thresinian, when did you make the switch to the new currency?"
"Well, Pertu, at first we weren't sure what effect the new currency would have. After all, unlike previous currencies, which have value based on established international exchange rates, the new currency has value in everyday life, too."
"Yes, I think we were confused at first."
"Eventually, after watching the fluctuating values settle into a relatively stable range, we started buying the currency in large quantities, some for future exchange and some for use at our company."
"I see."
"It was exhilarating, being able to put your hands on the currency anywhere you went."
"Yes, I've experienced the same sensation."
"Keep in mind, I have a room at my flat that I used for storing millions of paper money. I'd invite friends over so we could dive into the room and 'swim' through the paper. Now that the paper money is worthless, I've built a small indoor golf course of the new currency."
"You're not the only one. People make toy buildings and other structures of the new currency."
"Yes. We live in exciting times."
"We do. So tell me, Thresinian, do you ever wake up in the middle of the night craving the new currency?"
"You mean do I have 'salt deprivation complex'? No, I don't. But I like to pour salt on my food when I never used to. It's like burning paper money to start a fire when the money was still good. Thrilling to know you can afford to waste money without thinking about it."
"What's your assessment of the new desalination plants popping up all over the world?"
"Well, as you know, I had placed a buy on companies possessing salt mine rights. I still say hold on to those stocks because desalination is more expensive than pulling salt from underground mines. The governments of the world are looking at classifying salt by source so that sea salt might be permanently dyed to separate it from other salt sources on the currency market, creating a multi-tiered money market. I hear chefs are looking forward to offering flavored salts like rare vintage wines. Of course, you pay for it with regular salt. Archaeologists are putting ground-up ancient sea vessels on the market, hoping to cash in on this specialized salt currency craze. Stage musicians who used to throw towels to the crowd are having their salt extracted from the towels and sold in vials."
"Thresinian, I appreciate your assessment of the new currency. We're out of time. Thanks for this interview."
"Anytime, Pertu."
"Thresinian, when did you make the switch to the new currency?"
"Well, Pertu, at first we weren't sure what effect the new currency would have. After all, unlike previous currencies, which have value based on established international exchange rates, the new currency has value in everyday life, too."
"Yes, I think we were confused at first."
"Eventually, after watching the fluctuating values settle into a relatively stable range, we started buying the currency in large quantities, some for future exchange and some for use at our company."
"I see."
"It was exhilarating, being able to put your hands on the currency anywhere you went."
"Yes, I've experienced the same sensation."
"Keep in mind, I have a room at my flat that I used for storing millions of paper money. I'd invite friends over so we could dive into the room and 'swim' through the paper. Now that the paper money is worthless, I've built a small indoor golf course of the new currency."
"You're not the only one. People make toy buildings and other structures of the new currency."
"Yes. We live in exciting times."
"We do. So tell me, Thresinian, do you ever wake up in the middle of the night craving the new currency?"
"You mean do I have 'salt deprivation complex'? No, I don't. But I like to pour salt on my food when I never used to. It's like burning paper money to start a fire when the money was still good. Thrilling to know you can afford to waste money without thinking about it."
"What's your assessment of the new desalination plants popping up all over the world?"
"Well, as you know, I had placed a buy on companies possessing salt mine rights. I still say hold on to those stocks because desalination is more expensive than pulling salt from underground mines. The governments of the world are looking at classifying salt by source so that sea salt might be permanently dyed to separate it from other salt sources on the currency market, creating a multi-tiered money market. I hear chefs are looking forward to offering flavored salts like rare vintage wines. Of course, you pay for it with regular salt. Archaeologists are putting ground-up ancient sea vessels on the market, hoping to cash in on this specialized salt currency craze. Stage musicians who used to throw towels to the crowd are having their salt extracted from the towels and sold in vials."
"Thresinian, I appreciate your assessment of the new currency. We're out of time. Thanks for this interview."
"Anytime, Pertu."
The Old Barn
Being a parent is not what I expected. I grew up with my mother nearby most of the time and my father around occasionally, busy as he was in other pastures, so I thought that life as a parent was simply a matter of sharing the outdoors with my children. I guess I never thought about the times when my mother had to be angry with me in order to protect me from dangers I would wander into without knowing.
Now I'm a parent. I have a few children near me. Every child is unique and different from the other one. Seeing my peers as all different when we were growing up is not the same as seeing your children all different from one another because you don't spend time keeping your peers on a safe path to adulthood.
As a parent, I don't have a one size fits all way to raise my kids. One of my sons likes to run as fast as he can, never looking where he's going. One daughter always stays close to me no matter where I go. The rest of the children have personalities somewhere in between.
Fortunately, we all agree on one thing. We like the old barn. Inside the barn, we're free from the cold and the heat. The smell of hay fills our nostrils with delight. A few bats and owls have used the barn through the years. Mice and rats come and go.
I talked with a coworker who'd come from a farm far away. She said that our life here is special. Not all of us get the same treatment elsewhere.
I couldn't imagine another life. What is there to want? We're safe from large predators. We have big fields to ourselves. We provide milk for our children and another set of funny-sized creatures. We provide and are provided for.
Although adulthood is not what I expected, I enjoy being an adult. I am happy to learn new behaviours because I am happy with who I was and who I am. I don't always know what to do when my children get out of hand but with practice I am discovering I have capabilities I didn't know were in me.
Let the children bounce up and down and prance around while they're young. The joy of being alive, especially when new, is a joy to explore. With time, we and they find other new joys like the taste of new food or a warm day when the weather's normally cold.
Now I'm a parent. I have a few children near me. Every child is unique and different from the other one. Seeing my peers as all different when we were growing up is not the same as seeing your children all different from one another because you don't spend time keeping your peers on a safe path to adulthood.
As a parent, I don't have a one size fits all way to raise my kids. One of my sons likes to run as fast as he can, never looking where he's going. One daughter always stays close to me no matter where I go. The rest of the children have personalities somewhere in between.
Fortunately, we all agree on one thing. We like the old barn. Inside the barn, we're free from the cold and the heat. The smell of hay fills our nostrils with delight. A few bats and owls have used the barn through the years. Mice and rats come and go.
I talked with a coworker who'd come from a farm far away. She said that our life here is special. Not all of us get the same treatment elsewhere.
I couldn't imagine another life. What is there to want? We're safe from large predators. We have big fields to ourselves. We provide milk for our children and another set of funny-sized creatures. We provide and are provided for.
Although adulthood is not what I expected, I enjoy being an adult. I am happy to learn new behaviours because I am happy with who I was and who I am. I don't always know what to do when my children get out of hand but with practice I am discovering I have capabilities I didn't know were in me.
Let the children bounce up and down and prance around while they're young. The joy of being alive, especially when new, is a joy to explore. With time, we and they find other new joys like the taste of new food or a warm day when the weather's normally cold.
Field of Study
On a bus ride back from Saturday night's football game, I talked with an older gentleman who has seen our team's ups and downs over the decades. He said that what he liked best in a quarterback is a person who knows change. ["Change is having no point of reference from the past," as someone once told me long ago.] For both him and me, we have seen great quarterbacks graduate from our university, including a former college player now playing in the pro league, a seasoned signal caller and winner of a championship ring.
Our current college quarterback dreamed of playing college ball at our school. He has survived the past year's change of coaching staff and leads his team during his senior year. I see in him sparks of confidence that the pro player shows week in and week out.
What is the difference between the two? A good point of reference.
The pro player had his father as an older quarterback point of reference and later his brother as a younger point of reference. From that view, as well as a professional approach to all aspects of the game, the pro player has ensured his legacy.
The college player has a different point of reference, matching his dreams against reality. I wish he could see that the coaches, the players, the fans and even the pro player are all standing beside him and willing him to make his dreams a reality. He can take the 2 to 3 seconds of fast-paced game decision making and make it his own, just like a great baseball player can watch the spinning stitches of an incoming ball and decide which one to hit. The field is his to own, to stake his claim on the remaining games of the season and declare victory, melding his ability and the ability of his receivers, backs and blockers into one complete moment.
I take a satirical approach to life so that I can offset reality and look for insight into human behaviour. The college quarterback can use humour to lighten up his mood and loosen up his on-field performance as well as show others his ability to have fun even when the game is rough.
A great leader seizes the moment and shares it with everyone. I'm ready for the college quarterback to make this season shine, leading his whole offensive unit to greatness. His moment is now.
= = =
To the reader asking about the last blog entry, the reference to breath and other fluids traveling through our weather was inspired by this:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090911-space-water-dump.html
Our current college quarterback dreamed of playing college ball at our school. He has survived the past year's change of coaching staff and leads his team during his senior year. I see in him sparks of confidence that the pro player shows week in and week out.
What is the difference between the two? A good point of reference.
The pro player had his father as an older quarterback point of reference and later his brother as a younger point of reference. From that view, as well as a professional approach to all aspects of the game, the pro player has ensured his legacy.
The college player has a different point of reference, matching his dreams against reality. I wish he could see that the coaches, the players, the fans and even the pro player are all standing beside him and willing him to make his dreams a reality. He can take the 2 to 3 seconds of fast-paced game decision making and make it his own, just like a great baseball player can watch the spinning stitches of an incoming ball and decide which one to hit. The field is his to own, to stake his claim on the remaining games of the season and declare victory, melding his ability and the ability of his receivers, backs and blockers into one complete moment.
I take a satirical approach to life so that I can offset reality and look for insight into human behaviour. The college quarterback can use humour to lighten up his mood and loosen up his on-field performance as well as show others his ability to have fun even when the game is rough.
A great leader seizes the moment and shares it with everyone. I'm ready for the college quarterback to make this season shine, leading his whole offensive unit to greatness. His moment is now.
= = =
To the reader asking about the last blog entry, the reference to breath and other fluids traveling through our weather was inspired by this:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090911-space-water-dump.html
27 September 2009
Let's Do The Time Warp Again
The only reason I'm here is you. I love you too much. You are me. I am you. We are each other. You've heard me say it once, twice, three times and lately...well, I love you.
I cannot live without you. I would hope to hear you say the same thing but I'm not conceited enough to believe such a hope. Instead, I act upon the belief.
I will shout it one more time. I LOVE YOU.
So quit acting like children and behave like reasonable members of our species who love one another. I'm not asking for a yippie hippie love fest. I'm talking about practical, everyday, repetitious sweat, toil, joy and giving without expectation of receipt in kind.
From the recent Pittsburgh slugfest and UN speech contest I've had enough words to want to wash my own mouth out with soap even though I didn't say anything bad or socially unacceptable.
I'm just a regular guy, with regular fears and doubts. I know this planet is big enough for billions of us. Big and small at the same time, just like all our fears and doubts.
I'm angry right now. I'm tired of playing games with certain ones of you who think there's a hidden agenda out there with people out to get you. Let me tell you a secret that you already know - if you believe in ghosts, you'll see ghosts. Quit seeing ghosts!
I wanted to write a satirical skit for the next blog entry. Over the past two days I watched our body gestures and heard our tones of voice to better understand how the world of our species is doing, listening to the undertone of normality that keeps us linked together. I skipped two days of writing to talk with people (but didn't skip the habit of recording their names and workplaces for later recognition here).
I had already picked up some information early last week that told me our leaders, some elected freely, some elected in questionable circumstances and some self-appointed, were going to publicly disagree with one another to serve their self-interests (self-interests both at the individual level and the country level).
Pardon my bluntness but fuck your self-interests. I will not tolerate that crap. You have no self-interests anymore. This is my planet as well as yours. Your personal problems are mine, too. If you have a problem in your country, then it's a problem with me and my associates. We have no more patience for your self-pity and whining!
I have no desire to topple governments because the resultant chaos is beyond my control. But I do have associates who are no longer standing by, who want to move this body electric into the next phase of our species, beyond the petty "my belt is bigger than your belt" locker room bragging.
You want to show patriotism? You want to have pride? Then put aside your differences for a moment and listen.
There are seven billion of us listening and watching each other. We have mouths to feed. We have jobs to fill. We have jobs to create. We have family to care for. We may think we have no one who cares for us. We are skin and fingernails and muscles and bones and blood and brain. Every single one of us. We may have unique characteristics. We may or may not have living relatives but we're alive. You are within less than a planet's distance from the other seven billion of you.
I did not want to come here tonight but I love you too much to let you keep arguing with each other. I will not accept blind patriotism or grandstanding.
Wherever you are - sitting, standing, walking, chewing, typing - tell someone nearby that you love that person. Use your comfortable means of saying it. For instance, if you're sitting at a restaurant, make eye contact with the server and sincerely thank the server for being there to serve your food. If you are alone, tell yourself you love yourself. If you feel uncomfortable expressing your love for the person near you, let yourself be uncomfortable. You may be ready to face an opponent on a sports field or the field of battle but tell the person facing you you love that person, anyway.
Love in this sense is not about liking the other person or accepting the other person's lifestyle. Love is saying we're the same species, sharing the same planet.
I do not like what some of my leaders say, or what leaders of other groups or countries say and do, but I am loving them because they are me. I want us to live. I want you to live. A simple kind of love.
Your life is not mine. You don't have to like me. You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to belief you love me. I don't care. I don't live your life. You don't live mine. But we are still the same species. Let's think together for a moment.
The amount of arable land on this planet is limited. The amount of fresh water on this planet is limited. We have to share this land and water together, not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow but today.
So quit with the hot air and empty promises. Stop calling each other names. Feel free to compete in the realm of trade (or the world of ideas, if you will) because we all need newness to feel alive.
No more saber rattling. No more barriers. No more "I know someone's out to do me wrong." Admit the truth. We have this one planet to share between us.
I know some of you want the world for yourselves. I know some of you want the biggest, the fastest, the greatest, the most unique [name your favorite hobby/pastime/desire]. These feelings will drive you to extreme behaviour in your quest to conquer these feelings. No matter what, we still live on this planet together right now.
Thus, let's see the world as one big rock we're standing or sitting on, not little islands or fiefdoms. The breath I take today may well be on the other side of this planet before you know it. The water I drink will exit my bladder, evaporate and rain somewhere else next week. Thus, you're breathing and pissing on me right now. That's the way it's always been and the way's it's going to be.
I love you. I wanted to spend two months away from this blog but dissatisfied with the semantics of the international leaders the past few days, with messages of malcontent, I decided I love you and if my leaders and your leaders are going to waste my breath with negative words, I wanted to break my silence and tell you I love you because I don't think we have time to waste on listening to misguided leaders.
You are more important to me than anyone else I know. My planet is your planet. I have no strength in myself. My strength is in you. I depend on you every second of every living day. I'm tired of hate-filled language and action. I can't lift all of you on my shoulders but we can lift each other up, one set of arms at a time. I just told my wife, the person nearest me, that I love her. Before that, I told her mother that I love her and before that I told my parents that I love them. I told people this weekend that I love them even though I didn't know them - I told them with my eyes and my actions in the best way I knew how in the moment. I felt vulnerable and out of sorts at times but I reached out of my comfort zone to tell them. I put aside social structures and stereotypes to talk to people around me.
I don't care about nuclear disarmament treaties, border wars or illegal substance distribution routes. I care about you. The only way we're going to overcome our destructive habits is to rise above ourselves and see us as one species. It's not going be easy. It isn't easy. We do it one moment at a time. Like this one, the moment when I wanted to concentrate on some used books I purchased and not think about computers or new technology for a few days, but comments from people I heard this weekend bothered me and piqued my curiosity to see why they were throwing out such strange ideas. A quick lookup on the Internet told me why - they were responding to the condensed soundbites of leaders' speeches.
Now you know why I dislike advert-driven news sources. In previous decades, that was the only large-scale, cost-effective means of getting information to the masses. Now, with tailored news and divided masses, people are getting news that fits their preconceived views, driven by narrower and narrower advertising revenue streams. News providers are screaming louder and building up false enemies at an alarming rate, all for bigger audiences and bigger paychecks. They cater hate like candy, oblivious to or unconcerned about the species at large.
I break my silence to call on others to help pull down the barriers these hucksters put up. Let's reach out and shake hands. Pick up a shovel and build a new community together. Share the planet, giving each other the space to be ourselves and celebrate our cultural and subcultural strengths. Accept positive reinforcement. If you must find an enemy, look for negative comments - fight to overcome negativity, don't kill people because of what you've been told about them. If people are happy in their cultural comfort zone and treating others outside their culture with care at the species level, let them be. If they're mistreating others, then get the word out so we can examine their lifestyles and find creative ways to work together with them for improving all our lives. If they insist on destructive lifestyles, such as killing each other or those not like them on a continuous basis, then that's where setting aside places for them and others like them makes sense - let them have a contained area for our species' self-destructive tendencies - after all, we need outlets for our fight-or-flight syndrome to be felt and worked out.
Love is being ourselves and recognizing ourselves for who we are. We can overcome diversity and still be ourselves without appealing to just one animal instinct all the time. Let's focus our strengths (fighting and caring) on preserving the species and focus our fears on the areas of fun, laughter, satire, and games.
I have dropped my thoughts on this blog here tonight because I am fighting mad, ignoring all the jokes in my head for the moment. I will find a way to ask us to preserve our species with every last word and breath I have, using every thought and emotion to get the point across that we're the same. I love you and will let you know that as often as I can. That's all I've done and all I'll ever do, using mainly satire to say I love you but I'll use anger, too, if that's what it takes. I may laugh at the world but it's the only world we've got to laugh at right now.
I cannot live without you. I would hope to hear you say the same thing but I'm not conceited enough to believe such a hope. Instead, I act upon the belief.
I will shout it one more time. I LOVE YOU.
So quit acting like children and behave like reasonable members of our species who love one another. I'm not asking for a yippie hippie love fest. I'm talking about practical, everyday, repetitious sweat, toil, joy and giving without expectation of receipt in kind.
From the recent Pittsburgh slugfest and UN speech contest I've had enough words to want to wash my own mouth out with soap even though I didn't say anything bad or socially unacceptable.
I'm just a regular guy, with regular fears and doubts. I know this planet is big enough for billions of us. Big and small at the same time, just like all our fears and doubts.
I'm angry right now. I'm tired of playing games with certain ones of you who think there's a hidden agenda out there with people out to get you. Let me tell you a secret that you already know - if you believe in ghosts, you'll see ghosts. Quit seeing ghosts!
I wanted to write a satirical skit for the next blog entry. Over the past two days I watched our body gestures and heard our tones of voice to better understand how the world of our species is doing, listening to the undertone of normality that keeps us linked together. I skipped two days of writing to talk with people (but didn't skip the habit of recording their names and workplaces for later recognition here).
I had already picked up some information early last week that told me our leaders, some elected freely, some elected in questionable circumstances and some self-appointed, were going to publicly disagree with one another to serve their self-interests (self-interests both at the individual level and the country level).
Pardon my bluntness but fuck your self-interests. I will not tolerate that crap. You have no self-interests anymore. This is my planet as well as yours. Your personal problems are mine, too. If you have a problem in your country, then it's a problem with me and my associates. We have no more patience for your self-pity and whining!
I have no desire to topple governments because the resultant chaos is beyond my control. But I do have associates who are no longer standing by, who want to move this body electric into the next phase of our species, beyond the petty "my belt is bigger than your belt" locker room bragging.
You want to show patriotism? You want to have pride? Then put aside your differences for a moment and listen.
There are seven billion of us listening and watching each other. We have mouths to feed. We have jobs to fill. We have jobs to create. We have family to care for. We may think we have no one who cares for us. We are skin and fingernails and muscles and bones and blood and brain. Every single one of us. We may have unique characteristics. We may or may not have living relatives but we're alive. You are within less than a planet's distance from the other seven billion of you.
I did not want to come here tonight but I love you too much to let you keep arguing with each other. I will not accept blind patriotism or grandstanding.
Wherever you are - sitting, standing, walking, chewing, typing - tell someone nearby that you love that person. Use your comfortable means of saying it. For instance, if you're sitting at a restaurant, make eye contact with the server and sincerely thank the server for being there to serve your food. If you are alone, tell yourself you love yourself. If you feel uncomfortable expressing your love for the person near you, let yourself be uncomfortable. You may be ready to face an opponent on a sports field or the field of battle but tell the person facing you you love that person, anyway.
Love in this sense is not about liking the other person or accepting the other person's lifestyle. Love is saying we're the same species, sharing the same planet.
I do not like what some of my leaders say, or what leaders of other groups or countries say and do, but I am loving them because they are me. I want us to live. I want you to live. A simple kind of love.
Your life is not mine. You don't have to like me. You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to belief you love me. I don't care. I don't live your life. You don't live mine. But we are still the same species. Let's think together for a moment.
The amount of arable land on this planet is limited. The amount of fresh water on this planet is limited. We have to share this land and water together, not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow but today.
So quit with the hot air and empty promises. Stop calling each other names. Feel free to compete in the realm of trade (or the world of ideas, if you will) because we all need newness to feel alive.
No more saber rattling. No more barriers. No more "I know someone's out to do me wrong." Admit the truth. We have this one planet to share between us.
I know some of you want the world for yourselves. I know some of you want the biggest, the fastest, the greatest, the most unique [name your favorite hobby/pastime/desire]. These feelings will drive you to extreme behaviour in your quest to conquer these feelings. No matter what, we still live on this planet together right now.
Thus, let's see the world as one big rock we're standing or sitting on, not little islands or fiefdoms. The breath I take today may well be on the other side of this planet before you know it. The water I drink will exit my bladder, evaporate and rain somewhere else next week. Thus, you're breathing and pissing on me right now. That's the way it's always been and the way's it's going to be.
I love you. I wanted to spend two months away from this blog but dissatisfied with the semantics of the international leaders the past few days, with messages of malcontent, I decided I love you and if my leaders and your leaders are going to waste my breath with negative words, I wanted to break my silence and tell you I love you because I don't think we have time to waste on listening to misguided leaders.
You are more important to me than anyone else I know. My planet is your planet. I have no strength in myself. My strength is in you. I depend on you every second of every living day. I'm tired of hate-filled language and action. I can't lift all of you on my shoulders but we can lift each other up, one set of arms at a time. I just told my wife, the person nearest me, that I love her. Before that, I told her mother that I love her and before that I told my parents that I love them. I told people this weekend that I love them even though I didn't know them - I told them with my eyes and my actions in the best way I knew how in the moment. I felt vulnerable and out of sorts at times but I reached out of my comfort zone to tell them. I put aside social structures and stereotypes to talk to people around me.
I don't care about nuclear disarmament treaties, border wars or illegal substance distribution routes. I care about you. The only way we're going to overcome our destructive habits is to rise above ourselves and see us as one species. It's not going be easy. It isn't easy. We do it one moment at a time. Like this one, the moment when I wanted to concentrate on some used books I purchased and not think about computers or new technology for a few days, but comments from people I heard this weekend bothered me and piqued my curiosity to see why they were throwing out such strange ideas. A quick lookup on the Internet told me why - they were responding to the condensed soundbites of leaders' speeches.
Now you know why I dislike advert-driven news sources. In previous decades, that was the only large-scale, cost-effective means of getting information to the masses. Now, with tailored news and divided masses, people are getting news that fits their preconceived views, driven by narrower and narrower advertising revenue streams. News providers are screaming louder and building up false enemies at an alarming rate, all for bigger audiences and bigger paychecks. They cater hate like candy, oblivious to or unconcerned about the species at large.
I break my silence to call on others to help pull down the barriers these hucksters put up. Let's reach out and shake hands. Pick up a shovel and build a new community together. Share the planet, giving each other the space to be ourselves and celebrate our cultural and subcultural strengths. Accept positive reinforcement. If you must find an enemy, look for negative comments - fight to overcome negativity, don't kill people because of what you've been told about them. If people are happy in their cultural comfort zone and treating others outside their culture with care at the species level, let them be. If they're mistreating others, then get the word out so we can examine their lifestyles and find creative ways to work together with them for improving all our lives. If they insist on destructive lifestyles, such as killing each other or those not like them on a continuous basis, then that's where setting aside places for them and others like them makes sense - let them have a contained area for our species' self-destructive tendencies - after all, we need outlets for our fight-or-flight syndrome to be felt and worked out.
Love is being ourselves and recognizing ourselves for who we are. We can overcome diversity and still be ourselves without appealing to just one animal instinct all the time. Let's focus our strengths (fighting and caring) on preserving the species and focus our fears on the areas of fun, laughter, satire, and games.
I have dropped my thoughts on this blog here tonight because I am fighting mad, ignoring all the jokes in my head for the moment. I will find a way to ask us to preserve our species with every last word and breath I have, using every thought and emotion to get the point across that we're the same. I love you and will let you know that as often as I can. That's all I've done and all I'll ever do, using mainly satire to say I love you but I'll use anger, too, if that's what it takes. I may laugh at the world but it's the only world we've got to laugh at right now.
25 September 2009
Bunching Behaviour
A colleague of mine has started a hobby called cow herding, using her Australian sheepdog. I decided to look into the practice and see what it's about:
Time for blog silence to begin. Have a good couple of months.
- Acquire Purple Cow Herding Methods to Thrill Customers
- Low Stress Methods for Moving and Herding Cattle on Pastures, Paddocks, and large Feedlot Pens
Time for blog silence to begin. Have a good couple of months.
Nature
Squirrels are busy in the yard today. They jump from limb to limb, their tails flapping furriously, and pull hickory nuts from branches. I don't know what squirrels see when looking at a tree, whether they can distinguish a living limb from a dead one. My vantage point today prevents me from seeing the tops of the tree canopy but I can tell where the squirrels move about by the falling twigs that squirrels jump on and break off, the little sticks freefalling and catching leaves, sometimes held in place and sometimes thumping into the vinca groundcover.
My moment is my moment. I see the universe in constant flux. I am neither happy nor content, able to exist, be, in the moment without thought or emotion.
I have grown tired of playing the internetnews headlines game. I had thought I wanted to circle the Moon and needed to benefit others who mine stock data or mine minerals who would help me see our planet from our natural satellite. In the meantime, I forgot the moment and got carried away by those who play chess against one another in disinformation, buying and selling news, financing and fighting against their foes.
I am part of my species but I don't have to take part in all of my species' activities. My species will be my species without me being here in this blog. It takes how many days to change one's habits? Thirty days? Sixty days?
It is time to rest these weary fingers. Silence and contemplation are my momentary companions, even though I am a social creature. There is enough of the universe right here for me that I can let others have the Moon and Mars to save our species for their enjoyment, however they wish to put our species to use.
To be me, I am me and am willing to be free, free from self, free of self, free with self, free from others, free of others, free with others. Free of semantics, too. No words, just be. Me and Notme.
My moment is my moment. I see the universe in constant flux. I am neither happy nor content, able to exist, be, in the moment without thought or emotion.
I have grown tired of playing the internetnews headlines game. I had thought I wanted to circle the Moon and needed to benefit others who mine stock data or mine minerals who would help me see our planet from our natural satellite. In the meantime, I forgot the moment and got carried away by those who play chess against one another in disinformation, buying and selling news, financing and fighting against their foes.
I am part of my species but I don't have to take part in all of my species' activities. My species will be my species without me being here in this blog. It takes how many days to change one's habits? Thirty days? Sixty days?
It is time to rest these weary fingers. Silence and contemplation are my momentary companions, even though I am a social creature. There is enough of the universe right here for me that I can let others have the Moon and Mars to save our species for their enjoyment, however they wish to put our species to use.
To be me, I am me and am willing to be free, free from self, free of self, free with self, free from others, free of others, free with others. Free of semantics, too. No words, just be. Me and Notme.
24 September 2009
EPA and the pharmaceutical industry cooperating?
EPA and the pharmaceutical industry cooperating?:
EPA Names Pharmaceuticals to be Considered for Regs
http://www.pollutionengineering.com/Articles/Industry_News/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000666837
Shared via AddThis
EPA Names Pharmaceuticals to be Considered for Regs
http://www.pollutionengineering.com/Articles/Industry_News/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000666837
Shared via AddThis
#1 Choice of Professionals
Everything happens for a reason and we find a reason for everything that happens. Simple thoughts but no such thing as simple answers. We make decisions and those who follow through on their decisions will be the ones who see if the answers were correct or satisfying.
In my yard, squirrels gather nuts from trees and chipmunks gather nuts from the ground. A hummingbird hovers nearby, its body a marvel of miniature proportions. Brown leaves cover the road up to my house. I have peace.
I find peace in the simple act of observing and find understanding in the thoughts of my observations. Many wise people, young and old, have surpassed me in understanding but I was not them. I can only understand myself, if I choose.
Good health and happiness are not dependent upon one another but certainly make for a pleasant day.
What is the concept of self-actualization? When we discover our strengths and weaknesses that seem to fit into our set of thoughts which create happiness or satisfaction within us, have we achieved self-actualization? Have we reached nirvana, heaven or paradise here on Earth?
I know what uncomfortable compromises feel like. I know what a member of a tribe, community or species faces when the goals of the whole weigh down upon the goals of the individual. I also know I'm just this whirlwind of activity that thinks it thinks.
Absolut power corrupts one's liver if taken in too large a daily dose. I am not so uppity that I have to belong to the self-fulfilling belief of manifest destiny. At the same time, I am alive or living as this self-aware whirlwind of activity with time to spare for more than simple survival of self.
I am repeating repeating repeating repeating the thoughts of all 140 billion of my species living and dead and another 140 billion of those yet to live. Repetition has value, like brushing one's teeth daily.
My species will always live without me, a self-realization that takes time to fully comprehend because I know I do not live without my species, an unequal thought. Me versus the billions, the same thought we all have.
Thus, happiness comes from seeing yourself as one with the universe, no matter how you word the thought. "I am actually my self, no one else."
I am not my species. I am not any of the other members of my species. I am me. Free to be me, too, although others may not like what I represent to them.
Compromise, courtesy, politeness, necessity - these may drive our daily actions in the ways we act counter to what we perceive as our true selves. I don't care. I am still me whatever I do.
Self-actualization is living in the moment but getting outside of the moment at the same time. I am not me. I do not exist. I am the only universe that I will ever know.
In my yard, squirrels gather nuts from trees and chipmunks gather nuts from the ground. A hummingbird hovers nearby, its body a marvel of miniature proportions. Brown leaves cover the road up to my house. I have peace.
I find peace in the simple act of observing and find understanding in the thoughts of my observations. Many wise people, young and old, have surpassed me in understanding but I was not them. I can only understand myself, if I choose.
Good health and happiness are not dependent upon one another but certainly make for a pleasant day.
What is the concept of self-actualization? When we discover our strengths and weaknesses that seem to fit into our set of thoughts which create happiness or satisfaction within us, have we achieved self-actualization? Have we reached nirvana, heaven or paradise here on Earth?
I know what uncomfortable compromises feel like. I know what a member of a tribe, community or species faces when the goals of the whole weigh down upon the goals of the individual. I also know I'm just this whirlwind of activity that thinks it thinks.
Absolut power corrupts one's liver if taken in too large a daily dose. I am not so uppity that I have to belong to the self-fulfilling belief of manifest destiny. At the same time, I am alive or living as this self-aware whirlwind of activity with time to spare for more than simple survival of self.
I am repeating repeating repeating repeating the thoughts of all 140 billion of my species living and dead and another 140 billion of those yet to live. Repetition has value, like brushing one's teeth daily.
My species will always live without me, a self-realization that takes time to fully comprehend because I know I do not live without my species, an unequal thought. Me versus the billions, the same thought we all have.
Thus, happiness comes from seeing yourself as one with the universe, no matter how you word the thought. "I am actually my self, no one else."
I am not my species. I am not any of the other members of my species. I am me. Free to be me, too, although others may not like what I represent to them.
Compromise, courtesy, politeness, necessity - these may drive our daily actions in the ways we act counter to what we perceive as our true selves. I don't care. I am still me whatever I do.
Self-actualization is living in the moment but getting outside of the moment at the same time. I am not me. I do not exist. I am the only universe that I will ever know.
23 September 2009
Who Writes History?
While watching world leaders and their speeches this week, I remembered an out-of-date phrase from a former world leader - "axis of evil" - and the fact that it was a speechwriter who claimed to coin the phrase. Checked the Internet and here's what I found:
Every one of us has a say in what our species is doing at any one moment. Therefore, it behooves us to make sure our neighbours are making sense when they act and speak. If not, then offer an opinion that points out possible discrepancies between speech and reality and don't let others get carried away in believing statements or acts that run counter to positive reinforcement of our species.
Every one of us has a say in what our species is doing at any one moment. Therefore, it behooves us to make sure our neighbours are making sense when they act and speak. If not, then offer an opinion that points out possible discrepancies between speech and reality and don't let others get carried away in believing statements or acts that run counter to positive reinforcement of our species.
Bubba Bamboo and the Eighth Dimension
"You summoned me, Emperor Bing?"
"Jerryang, I'm bored. I want a planet to play with."
"Emperor, here is a planet in the Sol system, the third major satellite from its sun. One species in particular dominates the exchange of planetary goods."
"Excellent. Give me chaos. Let's see how that species handles some ecological changes. I want earthquakes, typhoons, overheating..."
"Anything else, Emperor?"
"What can you tell me about this species?"
"Well, Emperor, they believe they control their own destiny."
"They do, do they? In that case, I want to shake up their foundations. Get me in touch with one of them and let's see if we can stir up the straw in their beds and get them itching."
"Yes, Emperor."
- - -
"Bubba Bamboo, I haven't seen you since you wuz knee high to a grasshopper."
"John Parker, I hardly recognized you."
"They call me Parker Gripwith now."
"How you doin'?"
"How you doing?"
"Fine. Just fine. What brings you to these parts?"
"Well, I had an other-worldly experience."
"John, I mean Parker, haven't we all. Remember when..."
"No, I really was off-world. I met quite an unusual fellow. He claimed to be emperor of the universe."
"You don't mean Bing, do you?"
"Yes. How do you know him?"
"That ol' guy has been hanging around this planet in one form or another for years. He's so senile he can't recall his last visit. It's a shame. In his day, he was a great leader. People listened to him. He had the galaxy under his spell. Now he's playing Solitaire and thinkin' he's playing 3D chess. What did he say to you?"
"He wants me to cause a shift in the environment of your political zone."
"He what?"
"He says that I no longer am viable in the organization in which I was elected."
"You're an elected official? I thought you wuz a doctor or funeral home director or somethin'."
"I have many faces, Bubba Bamboo."
"Yes, you do. So, what're you plannin' to do? I could use you in the fight to hold off the terrorists trying to break through to this dimension."
"Bubba, there are no terrorists. There are misguided individuals that I believe you will find and help give them the positive reinforcement they need."
"Why, only if they'll eat some of my refried pork-and-beans."
"Bubba, find a halfway meeting point. Perhaps consult one of your friends practicing Jainism or some other third-party way of life. Falafel is a good meal for all to eat. They can eat a tofu steak on the side while you eat the steak of your choice."
"Parker, you're the man. You still haven't told me what you plan to do."
"I have yet to consult with the brothers and sisters in my business. There is some talk of us declaring an independent political group carved from the centrists who are no longer interested in support the fringe elements of their groups. In fact, secession is a popular topic, too. I have seen the V for victory, anchored in Washington, Texas and Vermont, that might mean it's time to take the so-called emperor seriously."
"I never took you for a person who looked for signs."
"I am not. But there are those who will follow us who will want such signs. Sometimes their means justify my ends."
"Your ends?"
"Yes, I have consulted with those of us who serve a higher purpose than local politics, just as you serve the higher purpose of protecting our species against unseen invaders."
"We're comrades, free of language, looks or other barriers."
"Yes, even Q said so, no matter what his motives may be."
"That so? Reminds me of my pal Rod, who said he doesn't care what you think as long as your actions meet his approval."
"Well, mon, I have much work to do. Find your terrorists and introduce them to your local culture and enjoy some of the finer points of theirs."
"I think I will."
"Don't think. Do."
"You bet. Seeya later. And good luck with that political stuff."
"Best of luck with you and your BBQ picnic. Jerk is not only a Caribbean meat but also the name for people who are incorrigible."
"You're right about that. I think I'll find them terrorists and introduce them to some backyard football. We'd shore have a heap o' lotta more fun passin' and tacklin' than shootin' each other. Have a good'un."
"Jerryang, I'm bored. I want a planet to play with."
"Emperor, here is a planet in the Sol system, the third major satellite from its sun. One species in particular dominates the exchange of planetary goods."
"Excellent. Give me chaos. Let's see how that species handles some ecological changes. I want earthquakes, typhoons, overheating..."
"Anything else, Emperor?"
"What can you tell me about this species?"
"Well, Emperor, they believe they control their own destiny."
"They do, do they? In that case, I want to shake up their foundations. Get me in touch with one of them and let's see if we can stir up the straw in their beds and get them itching."
"Yes, Emperor."
- - -
"Bubba Bamboo, I haven't seen you since you wuz knee high to a grasshopper."
"John Parker, I hardly recognized you."
"They call me Parker Gripwith now."
"How you doin'?"
"How you doing?"
"Fine. Just fine. What brings you to these parts?"
"Well, I had an other-worldly experience."
"John, I mean Parker, haven't we all. Remember when..."
"No, I really was off-world. I met quite an unusual fellow. He claimed to be emperor of the universe."
"You don't mean Bing, do you?"
"Yes. How do you know him?"
"That ol' guy has been hanging around this planet in one form or another for years. He's so senile he can't recall his last visit. It's a shame. In his day, he was a great leader. People listened to him. He had the galaxy under his spell. Now he's playing Solitaire and thinkin' he's playing 3D chess. What did he say to you?"
"He wants me to cause a shift in the environment of your political zone."
"He what?"
"He says that I no longer am viable in the organization in which I was elected."
"You're an elected official? I thought you wuz a doctor or funeral home director or somethin'."
"I have many faces, Bubba Bamboo."
"Yes, you do. So, what're you plannin' to do? I could use you in the fight to hold off the terrorists trying to break through to this dimension."
"Bubba, there are no terrorists. There are misguided individuals that I believe you will find and help give them the positive reinforcement they need."
"Why, only if they'll eat some of my refried pork-and-beans."
"Bubba, find a halfway meeting point. Perhaps consult one of your friends practicing Jainism or some other third-party way of life. Falafel is a good meal for all to eat. They can eat a tofu steak on the side while you eat the steak of your choice."
"Parker, you're the man. You still haven't told me what you plan to do."
"I have yet to consult with the brothers and sisters in my business. There is some talk of us declaring an independent political group carved from the centrists who are no longer interested in support the fringe elements of their groups. In fact, secession is a popular topic, too. I have seen the V for victory, anchored in Washington, Texas and Vermont, that might mean it's time to take the so-called emperor seriously."
"I never took you for a person who looked for signs."
"I am not. But there are those who will follow us who will want such signs. Sometimes their means justify my ends."
"Your ends?"
"Yes, I have consulted with those of us who serve a higher purpose than local politics, just as you serve the higher purpose of protecting our species against unseen invaders."
"We're comrades, free of language, looks or other barriers."
"Yes, even Q said so, no matter what his motives may be."
"That so? Reminds me of my pal Rod, who said he doesn't care what you think as long as your actions meet his approval."
"Well, mon, I have much work to do. Find your terrorists and introduce them to your local culture and enjoy some of the finer points of theirs."
"I think I will."
"Don't think. Do."
"You bet. Seeya later. And good luck with that political stuff."
"Best of luck with you and your BBQ picnic. Jerk is not only a Caribbean meat but also the name for people who are incorrigible."
"You're right about that. I think I'll find them terrorists and introduce them to some backyard football. We'd shore have a heap o' lotta more fun passin' and tacklin' than shootin' each other. Have a good'un."
22 September 2009
Looking For Work In The U.S.A.
In reviewing the macroeconomic goal of exporting U.S. goods to stimulate the world, I found an old news article of interest:
http://www.newsday.com/business/does-the-united-states-make-anything-anymore-1.888953
Where is your work being sent?
http://www.newsday.com/business/does-the-united-states-make-anything-anymore-1.888953
Where is your work being sent?
Sideways
We look at the decline of traditional mass media and fear the worst - "what happens if we lose the fourth estate?" I have worked for and have friends who work for traditional media outlets so I apologize to myself and my friends for making this observation but everyone else is thinking or saying it, anyway.
If we get rid of the advertising-driven media outlets and rely on each other's use of "neutral" means of mass communication - the Internet, et al - can we rid ourselves of the fear-mongers who serve their self-interest? I already trust input from global blogging, texting and email friends more than I do the major news networks and their news bureaus whose investigative stories are reduced to two-minute newsbites surrounded by adverts. More and more people I know depend on our friends over the information from so-called authoritative figures. Any talking head who has to shout loses our attention.
I don't know where this is going. These are just my feet riding the wave of current trends, unable and unwilling to describe the future in my thoughts at this time, the world of our species conscious of itself in new ways every day, our selves as cells connecting with positive feedback in every moment. If every cell is given an equal voice (or at least a voice that is self-empowered to see and speak of itself as having a say in the world body), is that enough? Liberating is not liberal or libel. Or even truly free.
I...I don't have the complete vision here. I have never met a perfectly evil person. I have met people who use simple methods to express themselves through violence and deadly weaponry but I didn't know them well enough to say if their methodology was innate or learned. In any case, imperfection and variety are the rule, not the exception, so there will be cells that act counter to the needs of the body. I don't want compliance or coercion. I only expect us all to agree we're of the same species and go from there.
My thoughts are jumbled today. My blood pressure up. I usually laugh and get a big jolt of fun from conversing with and perusing the words, images and music of my species but today I may just plain be personally ill. One's self is still most important, no matter what. Time to give my body some water and other input for good, long health - this is just a bunch of words that can't be increased if I'm too sick to type. Rick, I love you - go get a sip of agua and take a quick nap.
If we get rid of the advertising-driven media outlets and rely on each other's use of "neutral" means of mass communication - the Internet, et al - can we rid ourselves of the fear-mongers who serve their self-interest? I already trust input from global blogging, texting and email friends more than I do the major news networks and their news bureaus whose investigative stories are reduced to two-minute newsbites surrounded by adverts. More and more people I know depend on our friends over the information from so-called authoritative figures. Any talking head who has to shout loses our attention.
I don't know where this is going. These are just my feet riding the wave of current trends, unable and unwilling to describe the future in my thoughts at this time, the world of our species conscious of itself in new ways every day, our selves as cells connecting with positive feedback in every moment. If every cell is given an equal voice (or at least a voice that is self-empowered to see and speak of itself as having a say in the world body), is that enough? Liberating is not liberal or libel. Or even truly free.
I...I don't have the complete vision here. I have never met a perfectly evil person. I have met people who use simple methods to express themselves through violence and deadly weaponry but I didn't know them well enough to say if their methodology was innate or learned. In any case, imperfection and variety are the rule, not the exception, so there will be cells that act counter to the needs of the body. I don't want compliance or coercion. I only expect us all to agree we're of the same species and go from there.
My thoughts are jumbled today. My blood pressure up. I usually laugh and get a big jolt of fun from conversing with and perusing the words, images and music of my species but today I may just plain be personally ill. One's self is still most important, no matter what. Time to give my body some water and other input for good, long health - this is just a bunch of words that can't be increased if I'm too sick to type. Rick, I love you - go get a sip of agua and take a quick nap.
Humour For The Day
I could search the Internet for the exact wording of the joke but I want to paraphrase it and go back to meditating on the future of our species.
A young man is sitting in his house by the river reading his favorite religious text. A series of thunderstorms passes through the area and causes flash flooding. The man prays for God to save him. A buddy in a pickup truck drives by and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." As the water rises around his house, a friend in a fishing boat passes by and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." The man climbs on the roof of his house as the water overtakes the inside. An emergency crew in a helicopter hovers overhead and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." Eventually the man is swept away and drowned. In the afterlife, the man asks God what happened. God explains that he provided three opportunities for escape - if the man was so ignorant and blind, he might as well go on to the afterlife.
Similar to the phrase "when opportunity knocks on the door that is locked shut and the other door to opportunity just closed, climb out the window and say hello."
We don't always know what we see. Today is one of those days for me. I love my species but I'm not sure if I like the picture forming in my head, a conundrum beating out strange rhythms in my thoughts. I believe in a free society but the grocery store manager down the street disagrees, expecting payment for the food of his I want. Guess I can join the squirrels eating hickory nuts up in the trees and chew on some vinca.
A young man is sitting in his house by the river reading his favorite religious text. A series of thunderstorms passes through the area and causes flash flooding. The man prays for God to save him. A buddy in a pickup truck drives by and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." As the water rises around his house, a friend in a fishing boat passes by and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." The man climbs on the roof of his house as the water overtakes the inside. An emergency crew in a helicopter hovers overhead and offers a ride. The man refuses and says, "Thanks but God will provide." Eventually the man is swept away and drowned. In the afterlife, the man asks God what happened. God explains that he provided three opportunities for escape - if the man was so ignorant and blind, he might as well go on to the afterlife.
Similar to the phrase "when opportunity knocks on the door that is locked shut and the other door to opportunity just closed, climb out the window and say hello."
We don't always know what we see. Today is one of those days for me. I love my species but I'm not sure if I like the picture forming in my head, a conundrum beating out strange rhythms in my thoughts. I believe in a free society but the grocery store manager down the street disagrees, expecting payment for the food of his I want. Guess I can join the squirrels eating hickory nuts up in the trees and chew on some vinca.
21 September 2009
Fontaine Belle Eau
The wellspring of genius is madness, as many of us already know and nurture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
...but only works when you avoid dogma and idolization. Your madness and your genius belong to each other and no one else's. You may inspire others or they inspire you but your visions and your ingenuity are mated for life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
...but only works when you avoid dogma and idolization. Your madness and your genius belong to each other and no one else's. You may inspire others or they inspire you but your visions and your ingenuity are mated for life.
Factoids for the Robotic Generation
In order to better understand why people say what they do when they do for their own reasons, I decided to take a look at statistics - the cold, hard facts of numerical measurements - to gauge future emotional outbursts.
I looked at U.S. demographics. I looked at North American demographics. I looked at demographics in general. I looked at data compiled by the government that controls the area of the world I live in. All U.S.-centric, though. So I looked at old data of world population trends from the U.N. perspective. I looked at the U.N.'s version of our world (political, of course).
I took the expanded international version of an open source version of the Sims for world leaders and reran trend data reports.
I went back to the discoveries of the migration patterns of the east African plains ape and the insights provided to the ape before it left its first continent. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked at myself in my electron scanning microscope. I looked at myself in the trees and wildlife outside the window. I set my chin on my fingers folded together and meditated on all of the above.
I feel happy, seeing all the positive achievements of my species. We have survived cataclysmic events on local, regional and worldwide geographic scales. We have survived the ecological changes that helped wipe out larger land species, enjoying their meat, skins and bones along the way. We have discovered ways to harvest and genetically modify (through selective breeding and gene manipulation) grains and other growing things.
I am still an ape, prone to all the behaviours of my species. I know what my species can do to itself. I am not trying to change the world but I want my species to be the first one on this planet to say it has populated other planets in its same form. Now, whether we say it is evolution or God's plan or whatever, that's for other members of my species to say. I'm not concerned about the words we use (although others say I should be concerned or ignore at my peril). I don't care what color or body shape we have when we populate other planets. I don't care what language we use. I'm in the midst of all the negative terminology that divides us by body type but I'm putting myself in a place outside all the negativity. I want an ape like me - male, female, whatever - to be able to set foot on another planetary body and say the equivalent of "This is my new home, where I will raise a family."
In the meantime, the rest of us can find ways to coordinate our lives here on Earth for safer and more enjoyable times together. Mass migration will cause discomfort unless we state as a species and show on the individual level that it'll improve our general conditions. There will always be those who employ migrants illegally as a way (intentional or unintentional) to support migration for the species even if it looks to law-abiding citizens like they're being cheated. Migration and setting down roots are two of our species' strong characteristics. Those who put up fences to protect their turf will always be opposed to those traveling through their territory - we should recognize and acknowledge those characteristics, rewarding both, rather than set the two characteristics against each other.
I may be sarcastic in my writing but I am sarcasm-free in my happiness today. Everything in moderation, including moderation, as they say. I had let myself be sidetracked in local and international issues, looking for trends like flash trading and mineral mining for personal gain, and now my time on that circuitous route is finished. I am happy about what my species has accomplished to this day. We will achieve much happiness in the future, arms around each other and hands at each other's throats (some holding affectionately and some squeezing a little too tight, being the species that we are).
I wave hello to all my fellow apes and say "howdy." It's a beautiful day here in my neck of the woods. I'm going to enjoy myself and thank every one of you for sharing this planet with me. Time to put down this electronic pen and listen to the sounds that my planet is singing today - bird calls, squirrel grunts, roof hammering, car squealing, garbage truck loading, ears ringing and heart pumping. My species is alive today - what more can I want?
I looked at U.S. demographics. I looked at North American demographics. I looked at demographics in general. I looked at data compiled by the government that controls the area of the world I live in. All U.S.-centric, though. So I looked at old data of world population trends from the U.N. perspective. I looked at the U.N.'s version of our world (political, of course).
I took the expanded international version of an open source version of the Sims for world leaders and reran trend data reports.
I went back to the discoveries of the migration patterns of the east African plains ape and the insights provided to the ape before it left its first continent. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked at myself in my electron scanning microscope. I looked at myself in the trees and wildlife outside the window. I set my chin on my fingers folded together and meditated on all of the above.
I feel happy, seeing all the positive achievements of my species. We have survived cataclysmic events on local, regional and worldwide geographic scales. We have survived the ecological changes that helped wipe out larger land species, enjoying their meat, skins and bones along the way. We have discovered ways to harvest and genetically modify (through selective breeding and gene manipulation) grains and other growing things.
I am still an ape, prone to all the behaviours of my species. I know what my species can do to itself. I am not trying to change the world but I want my species to be the first one on this planet to say it has populated other planets in its same form. Now, whether we say it is evolution or God's plan or whatever, that's for other members of my species to say. I'm not concerned about the words we use (although others say I should be concerned or ignore at my peril). I don't care what color or body shape we have when we populate other planets. I don't care what language we use. I'm in the midst of all the negative terminology that divides us by body type but I'm putting myself in a place outside all the negativity. I want an ape like me - male, female, whatever - to be able to set foot on another planetary body and say the equivalent of "This is my new home, where I will raise a family."
In the meantime, the rest of us can find ways to coordinate our lives here on Earth for safer and more enjoyable times together. Mass migration will cause discomfort unless we state as a species and show on the individual level that it'll improve our general conditions. There will always be those who employ migrants illegally as a way (intentional or unintentional) to support migration for the species even if it looks to law-abiding citizens like they're being cheated. Migration and setting down roots are two of our species' strong characteristics. Those who put up fences to protect their turf will always be opposed to those traveling through their territory - we should recognize and acknowledge those characteristics, rewarding both, rather than set the two characteristics against each other.
I may be sarcastic in my writing but I am sarcasm-free in my happiness today. Everything in moderation, including moderation, as they say. I had let myself be sidetracked in local and international issues, looking for trends like flash trading and mineral mining for personal gain, and now my time on that circuitous route is finished. I am happy about what my species has accomplished to this day. We will achieve much happiness in the future, arms around each other and hands at each other's throats (some holding affectionately and some squeezing a little too tight, being the species that we are).
I wave hello to all my fellow apes and say "howdy." It's a beautiful day here in my neck of the woods. I'm going to enjoy myself and thank every one of you for sharing this planet with me. Time to put down this electronic pen and listen to the sounds that my planet is singing today - bird calls, squirrel grunts, roof hammering, car squealing, garbage truck loading, ears ringing and heart pumping. My species is alive today - what more can I want?
No Fingerprints
"Master, I have thought a long time about what you've said."
"Did you use your pupils or the pads of your toes?"
"I shaved off the outer layer of my fingertips."
"And what did you learn?"
"No matter what our skin looks like, we still have an identity."
"Very wise thought. What is an identity?"
"It is who we choose to act to be."
"You have learned much. How will you use this wisdom?"
"I do not know."
"Those are the wisest words you have said."
"I do not understand."
"No one does. We think and we act or we act and we think or we act and we do not think or we think and we do not act. That is all."
"Thank you, master. In the village I heard people say they were going to see a talking film. What is that?"
"A film, or a movie, is a bunch of people standing behind the eyes of cameras and a few people standing in front of the eyes of cameras."
"Then talking films are cameras are people?"
"Yes, cameras are people who do not think for themselves."
"Why would the villagers pay to watch people who do not think for themselves?"
"You are very wise today, reprocessed dinosaur breath. I see that one day you will surpass my wisdom, which makes me very happy. You have brought peace to this moment."
"Will my fingerprints grow back?"
"Will you ever have the same identity again? No. But to others, you will appear to have the same identity because of your skin and how you dress and talk. Fingerprints or no fingerprints, stay on your learning path."
"I mean, will my skin grow back because the itching and sensitivity of my fingertips makes it hard to practice my handwriting?"
"Practical questions require practical solutions, not answers from me. Leave me alone to enjoy this peaceful moment. You will find your solution elsewhere."
"Thank you, master."
"Did you use your pupils or the pads of your toes?"
"I shaved off the outer layer of my fingertips."
"And what did you learn?"
"No matter what our skin looks like, we still have an identity."
"Very wise thought. What is an identity?"
"It is who we choose to act to be."
"You have learned much. How will you use this wisdom?"
"I do not know."
"Those are the wisest words you have said."
"I do not understand."
"No one does. We think and we act or we act and we think or we act and we do not think or we think and we do not act. That is all."
"Thank you, master. In the village I heard people say they were going to see a talking film. What is that?"
"A film, or a movie, is a bunch of people standing behind the eyes of cameras and a few people standing in front of the eyes of cameras."
"Then talking films are cameras are people?"
"Yes, cameras are people who do not think for themselves."
"Why would the villagers pay to watch people who do not think for themselves?"
"You are very wise today, reprocessed dinosaur breath. I see that one day you will surpass my wisdom, which makes me very happy. You have brought peace to this moment."
"Will my fingerprints grow back?"
"Will you ever have the same identity again? No. But to others, you will appear to have the same identity because of your skin and how you dress and talk. Fingerprints or no fingerprints, stay on your learning path."
"I mean, will my skin grow back because the itching and sensitivity of my fingertips makes it hard to practice my handwriting?"
"Practical questions require practical solutions, not answers from me. Leave me alone to enjoy this peaceful moment. You will find your solution elsewhere."
"Thank you, master."
We Are Making Heroes
I saw a television advert that turned Ajay Bhatt into a hero in the science/high-tech industry. Thanks to Intel for showing us that heroes are the ones, including engineers and scientists, who innovate and make our lives more successful.
20 September 2009
Almost An Open Letter to My Elected Officials
I went to bed earlier tonight, letting my thoughts drift more than usual. I closed my eyelids and felt my eyes go into flutter mode which meant my eyes were searching, searching, searching for data to process. Therefore, I opened my eyelids and stared at the random patterns of the popcorn ceiling. As usual, regular patterns emerged. I connected the dots between two and two and had to sit down and type out my thoughts.
First thought: why am I bothered by the national health care initiative debate in my country?
Second thought: is the U.S. preparing for a larger permanent sector of the working population making less than livable wages in order to be more competitive in the world of produced goods?
Third thought: how does the U.S. government's ~$1T health care cost over ten years impact my goal to make our species a permanent member of the class of multiplanetary residents?
Fourth thought: my ankles hurt from dancing on a floor of gravel in the limestone quarry last night but oh the gyrating and hip grinding to the music with my wife was worth the reminder of my middle-aged joints.
Final thought: If we decide to subsidize U.S. industries in that they use low-wage workers (educated up to the secondary school level) whose insurance comes from the government, what is the up side for my species in the long-term? And if there is no up side, then what? Subsidized higher education? Government housing for factory workers?
You see, I know the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, widening the gap in every country, no matter whether it's Venezuela with its populist leader or the UK with its unpopular leader. However, I support an open system where any one person can find a place in the world that offers economic opportunities for movement up the wealth ladder. The wealthiest members of our species have the means to live their dreams and reach unimaginable goals. To them I turn to get our species on permanent locations off this planet.
I still don't have a clear picture of the benefits of national health care coverage in the U.S. All I hear are the denials - "no death panels," "no costs exceeding $1T," "no middle class tax increases," etc. What I don't hear are the positives - "free health care for Wal-Mart / Taco Bell / Red Cross / non-union workers," "guaranteed low-cost coverage for all health conditions," "increases for your investment portfolio because of new private sector medical inventions," "more money to send our species into space." In other words, I'm still neutral about this domestic plan but I'm leaning toward saying no because that's all I've heard our government leaders say about this plan. If I all can see is that the Wal-Mart greeter gets to have a shiny new set of dentures, quite possibly made overseas with the hope that the next set will be made more cheaply here one day, well...
I'm just a regular guy, born and raised on Friday night dirt track racing and Saturday afternoon football. I don't have an oracle to replace the can of snuff in my back pocket. All I have is this pickled brain to sort out the national economy and my place in it. So far, I'm not convinced by what I've heard about the national health care plan. It still smells like I'm being snookered by some industry or other. If you can't spell it out in simple positive language, I can't hear you.
I haven't called my member of Congress or any of the blue dogs to voice my concern on this matter but I reckon it's time. I'll do what I always do and stew on this a few days, rocking in a chair on the back porch, whittling, chewing and taking a sip of hooch, eyeing them quail up the woods a little bit and wonderin' if my wife'd cook us up a fancy plate of risotto-stuffed bird meat, asparagus, and radicchio salad with Roquefort cheese, spiced walnuts, and Mandarin oranges, along with a fine selection from our wine cellar. And for dessert, a hot slice of pecan pie with homemade ice cream. Then we can sit in the sunroom, drinking our afterdinner port, scotch or cognac, depending on our mood, and toast our good health.
I'm all for looking after the public good but an increase in longevity means nothing while all our eggs are in one basket. We can cheaply mine the substances we need now to get us on the Moon and/or Mars. The longer we wait, the longer we make ourselves fat, dumb and happy, the more complacent we get...you know the progression here, being a student of history like I am. I still say we shelve the health care plan until we firmly have unemployment under control (no matter how we decide to handle people with no regular jobs and no purchasing power, whether through re-education or massive employment projects) - there's just enough of an undercurrent of unrest in the world that should one large nation's population show concrete signs of real organized revolt, it can lead to instant disaster, twitter-style, pitting multiple groups against each other.
I don't want to sound alarmist but my concerns are bigger than one nation's internal squabbles. While the atmosphere heats up during the minimum solar cycle in what should be a long, really long, cooling period, we may have to use our precious resources to slow down the planet's temperature change long enough for us to make everyday changes in our lives rather than panic moves that upset the species even more. The more resources we use to preserve our population's standards of living, the fewer and more costly resources we have to settle families on other planetary bodies (unless innovation creates a cheap mode of space travel that gets us off this planet).
Our species will live for thousands of years on this planet, barring major catastrophes. Of course, what we'll do in the future is beyond my comprehension. We'll continue to innovate, adapting to whatever we discover and invent next. I think positively and join others who think and act positively. I make fun of us along the way, so we don't get trapped into taking ourselves so seriously that we come to blows over trivial matters. Let's make a decision about the U.S. health care plan and move on or we'll keep beating a dead horse and get nowhere fast.
First thought: why am I bothered by the national health care initiative debate in my country?
Second thought: is the U.S. preparing for a larger permanent sector of the working population making less than livable wages in order to be more competitive in the world of produced goods?
Third thought: how does the U.S. government's ~$1T health care cost over ten years impact my goal to make our species a permanent member of the class of multiplanetary residents?
Fourth thought: my ankles hurt from dancing on a floor of gravel in the limestone quarry last night but oh the gyrating and hip grinding to the music with my wife was worth the reminder of my middle-aged joints.
Final thought: If we decide to subsidize U.S. industries in that they use low-wage workers (educated up to the secondary school level) whose insurance comes from the government, what is the up side for my species in the long-term? And if there is no up side, then what? Subsidized higher education? Government housing for factory workers?
You see, I know the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, widening the gap in every country, no matter whether it's Venezuela with its populist leader or the UK with its unpopular leader. However, I support an open system where any one person can find a place in the world that offers economic opportunities for movement up the wealth ladder. The wealthiest members of our species have the means to live their dreams and reach unimaginable goals. To them I turn to get our species on permanent locations off this planet.
I still don't have a clear picture of the benefits of national health care coverage in the U.S. All I hear are the denials - "no death panels," "no costs exceeding $1T," "no middle class tax increases," etc. What I don't hear are the positives - "free health care for Wal-Mart / Taco Bell / Red Cross / non-union workers," "guaranteed low-cost coverage for all health conditions," "increases for your investment portfolio because of new private sector medical inventions," "more money to send our species into space." In other words, I'm still neutral about this domestic plan but I'm leaning toward saying no because that's all I've heard our government leaders say about this plan. If I all can see is that the Wal-Mart greeter gets to have a shiny new set of dentures, quite possibly made overseas with the hope that the next set will be made more cheaply here one day, well...
I'm just a regular guy, born and raised on Friday night dirt track racing and Saturday afternoon football. I don't have an oracle to replace the can of snuff in my back pocket. All I have is this pickled brain to sort out the national economy and my place in it. So far, I'm not convinced by what I've heard about the national health care plan. It still smells like I'm being snookered by some industry or other. If you can't spell it out in simple positive language, I can't hear you.
I haven't called my member of Congress or any of the blue dogs to voice my concern on this matter but I reckon it's time. I'll do what I always do and stew on this a few days, rocking in a chair on the back porch, whittling, chewing and taking a sip of hooch, eyeing them quail up the woods a little bit and wonderin' if my wife'd cook us up a fancy plate of risotto-stuffed bird meat, asparagus, and radicchio salad with Roquefort cheese, spiced walnuts, and Mandarin oranges, along with a fine selection from our wine cellar. And for dessert, a hot slice of pecan pie with homemade ice cream. Then we can sit in the sunroom, drinking our afterdinner port, scotch or cognac, depending on our mood, and toast our good health.
I'm all for looking after the public good but an increase in longevity means nothing while all our eggs are in one basket. We can cheaply mine the substances we need now to get us on the Moon and/or Mars. The longer we wait, the longer we make ourselves fat, dumb and happy, the more complacent we get...you know the progression here, being a student of history like I am. I still say we shelve the health care plan until we firmly have unemployment under control (no matter how we decide to handle people with no regular jobs and no purchasing power, whether through re-education or massive employment projects) - there's just enough of an undercurrent of unrest in the world that should one large nation's population show concrete signs of real organized revolt, it can lead to instant disaster, twitter-style, pitting multiple groups against each other.
I don't want to sound alarmist but my concerns are bigger than one nation's internal squabbles. While the atmosphere heats up during the minimum solar cycle in what should be a long, really long, cooling period, we may have to use our precious resources to slow down the planet's temperature change long enough for us to make everyday changes in our lives rather than panic moves that upset the species even more. The more resources we use to preserve our population's standards of living, the fewer and more costly resources we have to settle families on other planetary bodies (unless innovation creates a cheap mode of space travel that gets us off this planet).
Our species will live for thousands of years on this planet, barring major catastrophes. Of course, what we'll do in the future is beyond my comprehension. We'll continue to innovate, adapting to whatever we discover and invent next. I think positively and join others who think and act positively. I make fun of us along the way, so we don't get trapped into taking ourselves so seriously that we come to blows over trivial matters. Let's make a decision about the U.S. health care plan and move on or we'll keep beating a dead horse and get nowhere fast.
Sigh of the Day
All Munster final? All Ireland, Cork vs. Kerry! [Kerry: 0-16 Cork 1-9] Even so, Limerick, I miss ya.
Long live Munster rugby!
Long live Munster rugby!
System Requirements
I don't believe I'm important to the advance of the history of our species. I know I am because I am a member of my species. But, having no loyalty other than to my oath of monogamy, upon whose altar I burn sacrifices and divine secrets from the ashes, I ask myself why that duty alone suffices not.
It will not matter in another 50 years that at this moment the goldenrod and ironweed blooms snapped my gaze to the outdoor grid, wet from a fading mid-latitude cyclone. Yet it does matter. My voice and their purple and gold pixels on the green and brown yard background sound alike, although in my species' view voices speak louder than pollen windbags.
I ponder when in an individual's history does one purpose alone infest one's cells. A million million codependent organisms traveling as one body, limited to a century of solar revolutions and we want to focus on one set of skills? Some do, yes. So don't.
I sit here sounding out my thoughts using one medium in one language, a mirror upon which I view both my oath of monogamy and the inflexibility of settling on a single life's goal.
Survival. Living. Life. Success. Fun. Adventure. Love. Familiarity. Words that define life as an individual specimen. I crave success but I don't crave money. My monogamous partner craves money to celebrate success more comfortably, to share our love with others by buying them what they cannot afford, another definition of success.
Down the road from me, a woman, president of her local electronics business, won the opportunity to sit with Sarah Palin, representing two women's level of success. Rhetoric swirls around the event but as an independent observer, I don't care. Independence is putting our species above politics and religion, while noting where the pendulum of our species' beliefs leaves tracks in the sand for divining the future.
I have many goals at odds with each other and if I listen to the echoes of my thoughts of those goals then I can drive myself to the banana farm. Instead of forcing conflicting views in my head to conform to one world goal, I ask myself, in a moment of lucidity, lunarly plotted in someone's horror-scope, I'm sure, do my goals have to balance each other out in order to find future moments of happiness within me? No. I can desire women as sexual objects and see men as sexual peacocks and still believe our society has a place for the two genders to work on non sexually-oriented goals, with room for understanding that we're still sexual creatures, some open to sex with many, many flirting as if and some satisfied with one lifelong sexual partner.
I can dream of a space-traveling species and dream of a species dedicated to frugal living. I can see the attraction of semi-closed subcultures for homogeneous society seekers and see the value of no fences between neighbours.
My goal is the goal of life, a safe world in the midst of galactic dangers. I am not altruistic. I'm realistic. I have no fear of a single world culture. Our species is already pretty well connected, while providing safe havens for those who do not know about or who do not want to be part of the grid. World power is shared because no single person, group or country controls the world's resources except as a single species on one planet. We may bounce back and forth like sports teams trading players, but it's still a "no winner takes all" game.
I have more than I need but do the people around me have needs I can meet and still be myself? I don't know. I observe my world and look for "yes" rather than "no" or "not." I affirm my world and my place in it by writing satirical sketches. That's what I do, who I am. We are who we are, including our thoughts and actions in the moment, related to our goals. Trying to define who we are by who we are not diverts our attentions from who we are to become.
All of us know the human condition. Our thresholds for pain vary but we all know pain. Our experience of one human caring for another varies but we all know love, its highs and lows. If a neighbour wants to put up a security fence or trade barrier, so be it. At the same time, that neighbour has less say in what the neighbour association wants to do. Privacy and security are interesting concepts. We all know what humans are capable of - we can react to our worst behaviours or reach out and lift up our best behaviours. Which behaviour/condition do you wish to reinforce?
It will not matter in another 50 years that at this moment the goldenrod and ironweed blooms snapped my gaze to the outdoor grid, wet from a fading mid-latitude cyclone. Yet it does matter. My voice and their purple and gold pixels on the green and brown yard background sound alike, although in my species' view voices speak louder than pollen windbags.
I ponder when in an individual's history does one purpose alone infest one's cells. A million million codependent organisms traveling as one body, limited to a century of solar revolutions and we want to focus on one set of skills? Some do, yes. So don't.
I sit here sounding out my thoughts using one medium in one language, a mirror upon which I view both my oath of monogamy and the inflexibility of settling on a single life's goal.
Survival. Living. Life. Success. Fun. Adventure. Love. Familiarity. Words that define life as an individual specimen. I crave success but I don't crave money. My monogamous partner craves money to celebrate success more comfortably, to share our love with others by buying them what they cannot afford, another definition of success.
Down the road from me, a woman, president of her local electronics business, won the opportunity to sit with Sarah Palin, representing two women's level of success. Rhetoric swirls around the event but as an independent observer, I don't care. Independence is putting our species above politics and religion, while noting where the pendulum of our species' beliefs leaves tracks in the sand for divining the future.
I have many goals at odds with each other and if I listen to the echoes of my thoughts of those goals then I can drive myself to the banana farm. Instead of forcing conflicting views in my head to conform to one world goal, I ask myself, in a moment of lucidity, lunarly plotted in someone's horror-scope, I'm sure, do my goals have to balance each other out in order to find future moments of happiness within me? No. I can desire women as sexual objects and see men as sexual peacocks and still believe our society has a place for the two genders to work on non sexually-oriented goals, with room for understanding that we're still sexual creatures, some open to sex with many, many flirting as if and some satisfied with one lifelong sexual partner.
I can dream of a space-traveling species and dream of a species dedicated to frugal living. I can see the attraction of semi-closed subcultures for homogeneous society seekers and see the value of no fences between neighbours.
My goal is the goal of life, a safe world in the midst of galactic dangers. I am not altruistic. I'm realistic. I have no fear of a single world culture. Our species is already pretty well connected, while providing safe havens for those who do not know about or who do not want to be part of the grid. World power is shared because no single person, group or country controls the world's resources except as a single species on one planet. We may bounce back and forth like sports teams trading players, but it's still a "no winner takes all" game.
I have more than I need but do the people around me have needs I can meet and still be myself? I don't know. I observe my world and look for "yes" rather than "no" or "not." I affirm my world and my place in it by writing satirical sketches. That's what I do, who I am. We are who we are, including our thoughts and actions in the moment, related to our goals. Trying to define who we are by who we are not diverts our attentions from who we are to become.
All of us know the human condition. Our thresholds for pain vary but we all know pain. Our experience of one human caring for another varies but we all know love, its highs and lows. If a neighbour wants to put up a security fence or trade barrier, so be it. At the same time, that neighbour has less say in what the neighbour association wants to do. Privacy and security are interesting concepts. We all know what humans are capable of - we can react to our worst behaviours or reach out and lift up our best behaviours. Which behaviour/condition do you wish to reinforce?
19 September 2009
Three Caves Moon Juice
Moon Pie seat cushions. Huntsville Land Trust. Tabled with Dennis, Phillip, Kathy, Henry and the Handi-Ride manager. Table #7. High-power lights, pillow cloud cover and one star peeking out to say hello.Canvas tents. Grasshoppers and katydids getting free rides. Limestone caves, social strata, aged rocks rocking, silent auction, tiki torches.
Dancing geeks, no togas required.
Fans of southern hues - Miss. St., USF, UA, UT, UGA. Magnolia leaves, Olde Towne Brewing Company (amber and Oktoberfest), Carrabba's Italian Grill.
Stories of people wrecking in the neighbourhood woods. Another going to '82 UT-UA game as photog/reporter for Decatur Daily. Dennis here for birthday tonight, along with 600 of his closest friends, getting a CD of the subdudes as wrapped gift.
Juice's juiced sax playing in the crowd, the drummer and the ensemble like The Commitments.
No famous rocket scientists about but plenty of pocket protector players. Proof once again tonight that a true Southern lady knows the college football scores before her man does, holding it from him like the last drop of Jack or Jim. My team lost but played respectably, 13-23, preventing the highly touted field general from throwing a TD.
On the bus ride from the caves, just who was poking and who was playing, hands hard to see in the dark?
Gotta go back to Miller's store, now under Mary's tutelage, and try the suggested Yeti's or dark Unibroue. Also get down to the Nook, where "OVER 200 BEERS ARE SERVED."
Guess it's time to see how the world is having fun, the G20 gearing up for more gambling sessions in Pennsylvania, I hear. Indonesia and Brazil should get in a three-way race with South Korea to see who gets to play second fiddle to the Big Eight next year. I never laid any mortar on the BRIC alliance, knowing as I do who's keeping whose hands out of someone else's pocket and signalling different plays behind the back - it ain't cheatin', it's bending the rules like a sprig of spring bamboo.
Another Hero Gone
I've been lucky. My neighbourhood was chock full of heroes. Another one is gone - where are all our science heroes today, other than the ones playing game shows?
Dr. Hubert M. Hill, age 91, of Kingsport, passed away on Thursday (Sept. 17, 2009). He was a 1947 graduate of Purdue University, receiving his PHD in organic chemistry. (BS, Alma College, MI ) He moved to Kingsport in 1950 and in 1957 he was one of the first to work with computers at Eastman and started the math group at Eastman. He worked for Tennessee Eastman Company for over 30 years before retiring in 1981.
He was one of the first board members of East Tennessee Technology Access Center and at the time of his death was a Emeritis board member. He was secretary and treasurer of the Kingsport Association for the Visually Impaired. He was a member of the First Tennessee Advisory Council on Aging and Disability. He was a member of the American Society for Quality and the American Chemical Society.
Seeing Red
Yesterday and today, I'm seeing red. I went for my monthly apheresis donation yesterday and suffered only the third hematoma of my multi-decade donation record. I think about the bruising look on my arm and feel thankful that the little pain and discomfort of a once-in-a-few-dozen needle pricks results in internal bleeding all for my commitment to save the lives of those who need my whole blood and blood platelets.
Today, I see red because my rivalry college football game takes place in just a minute or two - Orange-and-White versus Orange-and-Blue. Don't expect my team to win but if they top the rival today, I'll take it. I'd rather see my favorite team go at blows with their rivals on the field than let the general population turn on each other. Maybe our government leaders should start taking sides, too. Munster vs. the Redskins, anyone? Manchester United vs. Edmonton?
Today, I see red because my rivalry college football game takes place in just a minute or two - Orange-and-White versus Orange-and-Blue. Don't expect my team to win but if they top the rival today, I'll take it. I'd rather see my favorite team go at blows with their rivals on the field than let the general population turn on each other. Maybe our government leaders should start taking sides, too. Munster vs. the Redskins, anyone? Manchester United vs. Edmonton?
18 September 2009
Ode to a Childhood Memory
When I was but a wee lad, I heard of a brand-new secret called Saturday Night Live, a late Saturday night satiric romp through the culture of my land. Over the years, I've watched the show's humour ebb and flow and wax and wane and make me groan, wishing there was early retirement for their comedy show writers. The memories are all we've got of the likes of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Chris Farley. Some jokes stand out forever. Some jokes I barely bothered to remember. Now, the advent of the Internet has made me realize that instant comedy of all flavours has made SNL stale before it even started this season. R.I.P. SNL. I used to love ya. Now, my ADHD doesn't have time to wait for you anymore. Too bad because Jay Leno's schtick hasn't improved going an hour and a half earlier in my time zone - he gets an A for effort but an F for his guest list - we need interactive humour these days, not the same ol' Dick Cavett and David Frost shows. I'd rather sit and hear Branford and Wynton play for an hour - that'd be a show that Kevin and company would accompany very well.
Comedy is like the head on the top of a Guinness - we may celebrate 250 years of brewing tradition and wait a few minutes for a good, slow pour but it tastes old fast if the pint's been sittin' there too long or the barman's no good with conversation.
I think I'll settle down, read a good book next to my wife and contemplate the universe for a while. Give the Internet a few hours to steam - the kettle'll soon whistle a new funny tune and tickle my tush, our planet a laugh every trilliardth of a second.
Comedy is like the head on the top of a Guinness - we may celebrate 250 years of brewing tradition and wait a few minutes for a good, slow pour but it tastes old fast if the pint's been sittin' there too long or the barman's no good with conversation.
I think I'll settle down, read a good book next to my wife and contemplate the universe for a while. Give the Internet a few hours to steam - the kettle'll soon whistle a new funny tune and tickle my tush, our planet a laugh every trilliardth of a second.
Miss Locality
I've grown foxglove (source for digitalis), garlic chives, oregano, figs, St. John's wort (source for placebo effect of happiness) and other vegetative matter in my yard. Some grows wild like mayapple and trillium. I haven't grown cocoa so I have to drive to the local market to find raw powdered cocoa or cocoa processed with other ingredients made into convenient snack-sized morsels for instant satisfaction or craving.
This evening, I trotted down to the local corner store where fossil fuel is sold by the truckload and the glare of shoplights make me wish I'd remember to wear my shades. A broken bag of ice melted on the road surface like a bleeding roadkill. People wandered around like the Night of the Living Dead.
A cashier walked in behind me and shouted, "Hey, everything's free tonight." I could only think of "Clerks" and other aimless 20-something flicks.
Meanwhile, dodging the flesh-eating zombies, I looked down at the shopping list for tonight's quick fix - Hershey's milk chocolate bar with almonds and Heath bar for the mizzuz, and a six-pack of brewskis for moi.
I'm rewinding the clock beside me and thinking back to 1987 when my wife and I "closed" on our house, meaning we'd signed papers agreeing to pay two and a half times the value of our home in principal and interest over 30 years. We trotted down to the same convenience store, then named Knott's Landing, and looked at the selection of fine alcoholic beverages available for our celebratory mood. Let's see, from memory I recall Boone's Farm strawberry wine, Wild Irish Rose, MD 20/20 (Mogen David a/k/a Mad Dog) and other wino favorites from which to choose, set in coolers next to Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, generic beer, Milwaukee's Best, Miller, and Colt 45.
The wine choices now include "wine coolers" while the beer choices include hard lemonade. I scratched my head for a moment, admiring the tall blonde who was stepping out of the bathroom and chatting on the mobile phone. I selected a Sam Adams Boston Lager, an interesting substitute for good microbrewery delights, with a hint of hops that'll hold my tastebuds still until I can get some more powerful brew.
A nod to Keisha working behind the counter. Thanks for flashing those pretty eyes at just another customer standing next to the cash register. It's been many a day when I've seen folks like you burned out and tuned out, mentally counting the minutes until shift change. If Billy Knott is still leasing the place, you're giving a fair deal to him and the people who lease from him. You may not remember the bait shop across the intersection or the Mountain View restaurant down the street but I reckon you young folks don't have to. I admit I don't have memories of the former Highway 431 that old man Miller had from his store up the road. But I can still see the Subletts' cotton gin where the new Exxon station sits. You can't get a global view unless you're sitting squarely on local ground surrounded by the smells of defoliant, perfume, cologne, stale beer, spilled petrol, hot antifreeze, processed potato crisps, milk, cigarettes, and metal shelving. The ding of an open car door with keys in the ignition closes out this blog entry.
This evening, I trotted down to the local corner store where fossil fuel is sold by the truckload and the glare of shoplights make me wish I'd remember to wear my shades. A broken bag of ice melted on the road surface like a bleeding roadkill. People wandered around like the Night of the Living Dead.
A cashier walked in behind me and shouted, "Hey, everything's free tonight." I could only think of "Clerks" and other aimless 20-something flicks.
Meanwhile, dodging the flesh-eating zombies, I looked down at the shopping list for tonight's quick fix - Hershey's milk chocolate bar with almonds and Heath bar for the mizzuz, and a six-pack of brewskis for moi.
I'm rewinding the clock beside me and thinking back to 1987 when my wife and I "closed" on our house, meaning we'd signed papers agreeing to pay two and a half times the value of our home in principal and interest over 30 years. We trotted down to the same convenience store, then named Knott's Landing, and looked at the selection of fine alcoholic beverages available for our celebratory mood. Let's see, from memory I recall Boone's Farm strawberry wine, Wild Irish Rose, MD 20/20 (Mogen David a/k/a Mad Dog) and other wino favorites from which to choose, set in coolers next to Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, generic beer, Milwaukee's Best, Miller, and Colt 45.
The wine choices now include "wine coolers" while the beer choices include hard lemonade. I scratched my head for a moment, admiring the tall blonde who was stepping out of the bathroom and chatting on the mobile phone. I selected a Sam Adams Boston Lager, an interesting substitute for good microbrewery delights, with a hint of hops that'll hold my tastebuds still until I can get some more powerful brew.
A nod to Keisha working behind the counter. Thanks for flashing those pretty eyes at just another customer standing next to the cash register. It's been many a day when I've seen folks like you burned out and tuned out, mentally counting the minutes until shift change. If Billy Knott is still leasing the place, you're giving a fair deal to him and the people who lease from him. You may not remember the bait shop across the intersection or the Mountain View restaurant down the street but I reckon you young folks don't have to. I admit I don't have memories of the former Highway 431 that old man Miller had from his store up the road. But I can still see the Subletts' cotton gin where the new Exxon station sits. You can't get a global view unless you're sitting squarely on local ground surrounded by the smells of defoliant, perfume, cologne, stale beer, spilled petrol, hot antifreeze, processed potato crisps, milk, cigarettes, and metal shelving. The ding of an open car door with keys in the ignition closes out this blog entry.
The Seven Sea Lions
"Umm, Edna."
"Yes, George?"
"How long we gotta lay on these rocks? My back is killing me."
"Hey, George!"
"Yeah, Futio, wutizzit?"
"You think there're fish in heaven?"
"How'm I supposed to know? I can't get Edna to tell me what she wants for Christmas. Tiwi, you up for a swim?"
"Sure, George. Just gotta okay it with the mizzuz. Whatdya say, honey? Mind if I chase a few tails?"
"No problem, dear. You make sure you bring me back somethin' for dinnuh. Last night, you were so drunk on sardines, I almost didn't forgive ya."
"You females are all alike. We soak up the sun all day and one slip out for a bite with the guys and ya act like we wuz cheatin' on ya."
"Get outta here."
"Hey, George! She said I'm good to go."
"Great. Let's get the twins, Fayed and Fudu, to join us."
"Don't fuhget Junior and Tyrone."
"Yeah, guess they're old enough now, ain't they?"
- - -
"Okay, guys, this is how it goes. We're part of the famous seven sea lions, as depicted in greatness to be the ones who show the way to the other sea lions. Now, see it's like this. The Great Sea Lion in the Big Pond is going to come back one day and he wants all the fish for himself but seein' how he's the generous type, he'll take some of youse back with him. We seven, plus Edna and Tiwi's mizzuz, of course, we're a shoo-in. So that means there's either one-hundred, forty-four thousand more of us goin' back with the big guy or the same plus or minus seven or so. I can't never tell, math not bein' my subject when we's wuz chasin' them schools of fish."
"Say, George. I wuz swimming on the bottom of the shoreline and saw this yellow box labeled Arm-and-Hammer. Does that mean the end is coming?"
"Ya know, Tiwi, that might be the sign they wuz talkin' about. Well, fellas, this might be the end. That means you go get all the fish you can handle. But it also means them sharks and orcas are comin' after us. And I don't have to tell you it's every sea lion for himself. Oh, and hey, be careful out there."
"Yes, George?"
"How long we gotta lay on these rocks? My back is killing me."
"Hey, George!"
"Yeah, Futio, wutizzit?"
"You think there're fish in heaven?"
"How'm I supposed to know? I can't get Edna to tell me what she wants for Christmas. Tiwi, you up for a swim?"
"Sure, George. Just gotta okay it with the mizzuz. Whatdya say, honey? Mind if I chase a few tails?"
"No problem, dear. You make sure you bring me back somethin' for dinnuh. Last night, you were so drunk on sardines, I almost didn't forgive ya."
"You females are all alike. We soak up the sun all day and one slip out for a bite with the guys and ya act like we wuz cheatin' on ya."
"Get outta here."
"Hey, George! She said I'm good to go."
"Great. Let's get the twins, Fayed and Fudu, to join us."
"Don't fuhget Junior and Tyrone."
"Yeah, guess they're old enough now, ain't they?"
- - -
"Okay, guys, this is how it goes. We're part of the famous seven sea lions, as depicted in greatness to be the ones who show the way to the other sea lions. Now, see it's like this. The Great Sea Lion in the Big Pond is going to come back one day and he wants all the fish for himself but seein' how he's the generous type, he'll take some of youse back with him. We seven, plus Edna and Tiwi's mizzuz, of course, we're a shoo-in. So that means there's either one-hundred, forty-four thousand more of us goin' back with the big guy or the same plus or minus seven or so. I can't never tell, math not bein' my subject when we's wuz chasin' them schools of fish."
"Say, George. I wuz swimming on the bottom of the shoreline and saw this yellow box labeled Arm-and-Hammer. Does that mean the end is coming?"
"Ya know, Tiwi, that might be the sign they wuz talkin' about. Well, fellas, this might be the end. That means you go get all the fish you can handle. But it also means them sharks and orcas are comin' after us. And I don't have to tell you it's every sea lion for himself. Oh, and hey, be careful out there."
Weather Radar Analysis Results
While setting up the microscope last night, I turned on the supercomputer I built with popsicle sticks and bubble gum wrappers when I was a kid. Instead of the silly straight-line extrapolation charts that global warming alarmists like to shove in my face from the top of scissor lifts, I asked the supercomputer to show me actual data that would, not might, occur. Funny how well a computer works when you ask it for reasonable data.
Turns out that our planetary system has a series of checks and balances that give local residents a false understanding of what the system is doing. Yes, there appears to be whole-scale melting of large chunks of ice in this glass of sweet tea, but the near-term cooling effect from the ice vacillates and gives circulating cool masses a spin.
I don't like terms like "global warming" or "widespread desertification." I like positive-sounding terms like "land-use reclamation" or "sea lane expansion." We'll figure out what's wrong when we're all standing around the shores of the Arctic casting lines to catch the last fish.
Sort of similar to my response when looking at frequencies on my phone line and the way they trigger real or fake caller ID signals - I'll answer the phone when it's someone I know, with whom I'll have an intelligent conversation. The rest are trying and failing to get my attention.
Turns out that our planetary system has a series of checks and balances that give local residents a false understanding of what the system is doing. Yes, there appears to be whole-scale melting of large chunks of ice in this glass of sweet tea, but the near-term cooling effect from the ice vacillates and gives circulating cool masses a spin.
I don't like terms like "global warming" or "widespread desertification." I like positive-sounding terms like "land-use reclamation" or "sea lane expansion." We'll figure out what's wrong when we're all standing around the shores of the Arctic casting lines to catch the last fish.
Sort of similar to my response when looking at frequencies on my phone line and the way they trigger real or fake caller ID signals - I'll answer the phone when it's someone I know, with whom I'll have an intelligent conversation. The rest are trying and failing to get my attention.
Return to the Birth of a Titan
While using a dusty, ol' electron scanning microscope I picked up at a government surplus sale to look at myself down to the atomic level, I decided to point the 'scope at my computer. Funny how a government sale of debt leads to the redistribution of perceived world and regional power. The Art of Peace is the Art of War when viewed from the level of protons and neutrons. Can't wait to see what the LHC will reveal!
17 September 2009
Pease Porridge Hot
While trying to give my characters a sense of meaning to their lives, I've angered them up a bit, prepping them for a big event. Only one problem - what's the event going to be? If you take away other humans as targets for anger, what do you replace them with? What external target is enough to band a diverse group of people together to focus on? It sure isn't planetary survival because ten percent of the people are turned off by environmental activism. It sure isn't military strategy because another ten percent are turned off by war.
What about the eighty percent who don't get riled up by anything, focused as they are on normal, everyday living? I hate using mass hysteria or threats.
Maybe that's the issue I should focus on, the eighty percent who sit still, relatively speaking, and watch the other twenty percent duke it out. Nahhh...who would be interested in that? lol
Hmm...so we have the quiet majority who get by without needing major issues to drive them from day-to-day, satisfied as they are with themselves. Let's see. Isn't that my own goal? Yes, of course it is. So, then, how do I get the other twenty percent to seek what the happy majority already have found and are satisfied with? Now that's the story we'd all like to see resolved. Imagine the peace and quiet we'd have then!
It's decided. While world leaders and local dealers divide the world into their territories, the ones in between will be working to unite the world for the next Pax Romana.
What about the eighty percent who don't get riled up by anything, focused as they are on normal, everyday living? I hate using mass hysteria or threats.
Maybe that's the issue I should focus on, the eighty percent who sit still, relatively speaking, and watch the other twenty percent duke it out. Nahhh...who would be interested in that? lol
Hmm...so we have the quiet majority who get by without needing major issues to drive them from day-to-day, satisfied as they are with themselves. Let's see. Isn't that my own goal? Yes, of course it is. So, then, how do I get the other twenty percent to seek what the happy majority already have found and are satisfied with? Now that's the story we'd all like to see resolved. Imagine the peace and quiet we'd have then!
It's decided. While world leaders and local dealers divide the world into their territories, the ones in between will be working to unite the world for the next Pax Romana.
The Thought On Everybody's Mind
I think I mentioned that I have not voted Republican or Democrat in the U.S. presidential elections because I believe our system needs a major change from the current two-headed one party system (yes, I know that Ralph Nader has not been the most viable alternative but I went with him, anyway). Interesting that the same idea is floating on at least one foreign website:
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-09-18/us-politics-democrats-republicans.html
No matter who has served in the Oval Office, I have supported that person because the person was sworn in to protect the interests of the country in which I live. Despite one resignation and one blue dress the U.S. presidents have been all right, fitting as they do into the whole democratic republic picture I was raised to believe in.
Where is the future headed? Depends on how we see our place in the world, I guess:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/elizabeth-kolbert-better-measures.html
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-09-18/us-politics-democrats-republicans.html
No matter who has served in the Oval Office, I have supported that person because the person was sworn in to protect the interests of the country in which I live. Despite one resignation and one blue dress the U.S. presidents have been all right, fitting as they do into the whole democratic republic picture I was raised to believe in.
Where is the future headed? Depends on how we see our place in the world, I guess:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/elizabeth-kolbert-better-measures.html
Connect To More Hotspots
"Vladimir, thank you for inviting me."
"You are welcome, Barack. I also invited Hu to be here. What about you?"
"I have brought Pratibha with me."
"Greetings again, Vladimir."
They stood and looked at a map of the world.
Vladimir patted Barack on the back. "This is what you wanted?"
"Yes."
Hu put a hand on Barack's arm. "Welcome to the game of Risk. Have you played the game before?"
"Only in my dreams."
Pratibha held up the dice. "It appears to be a relatively simple game of strategy."
Vladimir smiled. "For you two, being new at the presidential task, it appears simple. Let me tell you, there are many levels here you cannot see. The dice are just the public view."
Hu laughed. "Yes, I see we have much to teach our apprentices. How shall we divide the world for tonight's game?"
"Barack, let us imagine that you have most of the Americas and Africa. In return, I will take the Canadian provinces and Greenland."
"Sounds good to me, Vladimir. What about you, Pratibha?"
"Let me have the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Madagascar."
Hu laughed again. "Vladimir, do you remember when we first played this game, how easy it looked to gain world domination?"
"Yes, Hu, I do. You have taught me to be patient, a strategy I am liking more and more. Barack, you can see how thinly spread out you are, right?"
"Of course. But I figure there's more here than meets the eye. Let's say I'm willing to divide Africa in exchange for..." Barack's game opponents turned to look at him. "Well, Hu, you tell me. What's there in Africa that you're willing to take that'll benefit me somewhere else?"
Hu looked at Pratibha. "I think it's more interesting to ask what Russia has to offer India first."
Pratibha looked at Vladimir. "And I wonder what China has to offer Russia that both are offering to the Americas before this game has even started."
Vladimir poured four glasses of vodka. "In my country, we drink and then we talk. This game will wait a few minutes for us to get to know each other better, don't you think?"
A quiet knock on the door interrupted their toast. Vladimir frowned. "What is it?!"
"Mr. Prime Minister, it is the delegation from Europe and Japan. They want to know when they can come in."
Vladimir looked at his guests. "Well?"
They shook their heads. Vladimir nodded. "Tell them we will have the treaties ready in the morning. In time for big breakfast meeting in front of world press."
"You are welcome, Barack. I also invited Hu to be here. What about you?"
"I have brought Pratibha with me."
"Greetings again, Vladimir."
They stood and looked at a map of the world.
Vladimir patted Barack on the back. "This is what you wanted?"
"Yes."
Hu put a hand on Barack's arm. "Welcome to the game of Risk. Have you played the game before?"
"Only in my dreams."
Pratibha held up the dice. "It appears to be a relatively simple game of strategy."
Vladimir smiled. "For you two, being new at the presidential task, it appears simple. Let me tell you, there are many levels here you cannot see. The dice are just the public view."
Hu laughed. "Yes, I see we have much to teach our apprentices. How shall we divide the world for tonight's game?"
"Barack, let us imagine that you have most of the Americas and Africa. In return, I will take the Canadian provinces and Greenland."
"Sounds good to me, Vladimir. What about you, Pratibha?"
"Let me have the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Madagascar."
Hu laughed again. "Vladimir, do you remember when we first played this game, how easy it looked to gain world domination?"
"Yes, Hu, I do. You have taught me to be patient, a strategy I am liking more and more. Barack, you can see how thinly spread out you are, right?"
"Of course. But I figure there's more here than meets the eye. Let's say I'm willing to divide Africa in exchange for..." Barack's game opponents turned to look at him. "Well, Hu, you tell me. What's there in Africa that you're willing to take that'll benefit me somewhere else?"
Hu looked at Pratibha. "I think it's more interesting to ask what Russia has to offer India first."
Pratibha looked at Vladimir. "And I wonder what China has to offer Russia that both are offering to the Americas before this game has even started."
Vladimir poured four glasses of vodka. "In my country, we drink and then we talk. This game will wait a few minutes for us to get to know each other better, don't you think?"
A quiet knock on the door interrupted their toast. Vladimir frowned. "What is it?!"
"Mr. Prime Minister, it is the delegation from Europe and Japan. They want to know when they can come in."
Vladimir looked at his guests. "Well?"
They shook their heads. Vladimir nodded. "Tell them we will have the treaties ready in the morning. In time for big breakfast meeting in front of world press."
How Does Happiness and Networking Help Us Feed Each Other?
I enjoy social networking as defined for online fun learning but physical one-to-one networking is where I still seem to make the most business connections. Others may disagree where virtual business work is concerned:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6156.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6156.html
Bathroom Humour
"So you're the great Benjamin Netanyahu."
"And you're the formidable Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
"Standing together at the urinals."
"Yeah, it looks like our piss is the same colour."
"And your size, it's not so different than mine."
"So what are we to do?"
"I don't know. You keep encroaching on the territory of my brothers."
"And you keep denying the existence of mine."
"Hmm."
"Yes."
"Will we ever find a solution to our permanent problem?"
"I don't know. Abraham. Ibrahim. We agree on a few things."
"But that Jesus fellow. I suppose we both have a problem with that prophet."
"Indeed. So perhaps we are not so far apart in our philosophies?"
"Perhaps. Tell me, do you shake before you zip up or just drip and dry?"
"See for yourself."
"Ah. Then we do have a difference."
"Perhaps. Small in comparison to what we have to work out between our people."
"You said it, not me."
"And you're the formidable Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
"Standing together at the urinals."
"Yeah, it looks like our piss is the same colour."
"And your size, it's not so different than mine."
"So what are we to do?"
"I don't know. You keep encroaching on the territory of my brothers."
"And you keep denying the existence of mine."
"Hmm."
"Yes."
"Will we ever find a solution to our permanent problem?"
"I don't know. Abraham. Ibrahim. We agree on a few things."
"But that Jesus fellow. I suppose we both have a problem with that prophet."
"Indeed. So perhaps we are not so far apart in our philosophies?"
"Perhaps. Tell me, do you shake before you zip up or just drip and dry?"
"See for yourself."
"Ah. Then we do have a difference."
"Perhaps. Small in comparison to what we have to work out between our people."
"You said it, not me."
Sawhorse
Last night I felt the anguish of hundreds of years of unchangeable history wringing tears from my eyes, my body shaking with the knowledge that time takes time. We cannot erase the past but we learn from what those before us learned.
Music. Mathematics. Happiness. Non-generational. Non-gender. Non-ethnic. We can share the pain, expose our emotional weaknesses, show that in all of us are fear, longing and hope unrealized.
Tenuous. Momentary. Fragile.
I am a lucky person. I grew up without knowledge of the blinders people put on themselves and their children.
In the mirror I see an American male of northern European descent yet my best friends when I first started public school were of African descent and we took classes in Spanish in our first and second school years together. When I entered the office world, my first interview was with a fellow southern American who happened to be African-American. One of my favorite fellow employees is Indian and we like to eat hot, spicy food at Thai restaurants together. Some of my best managers have been female African-Americans and this is while living in Alabama (the "Heart of Dixie," our automobile license plates state). When I started out as a manager, my first employee was African-American, the best qualified person for the job. I have worked with, employed and worked for people who grew up in different places all over the world, with gender preferences that truly define a rainbow of differences. My wife and I owned part of a Japanese restaurant managed by a European-American man and Filipino-American woman with a great male Chinese server who worked there.
I cried last night because the media still wants to report impartial news stories that impart two-dimensional tales, stereotypical "either/or" stuff. Why?!?!?!!
Why are we always looking for a smoking gun? Why do we want people to blame or place guilt upon?
Why? Because it reflects us as one people. Our media reflect and drive forward our crowd personality with simple messages. Mob mentality for the sake of advertising revenue.
Every one of us has a child in our personality that remembers the love and discipline of our adult caretakers. We seek love and generally avoid harsh discipline. We don't want to hear harmful words and shouldn't have to.
At the same time, as adults we can recognize the history behind words with negative connotations and understand what others have taught us. We can open up conversations and ask what certain words mean to each other and why we don't want to hear them, healing the hurt inside for us as individuals and for us as one people.
Learning is joyful and painful. We cannot find innovative ways to create a sustainable future if we ignore the past. Sure, the past is behind us but we carry the past in our thoughts in every moment. Examine all your thoughts, understanding what they mean, both happy ones and sad ones. Don't be misled by media headlines. Look at yourself and those around you. You don't have to believe the stereotypes presented to you.
As I have demonstrated to myself, I will not let those who seek advantages in creating class warfare win. My associates will hunt them down, gladly marking the losers' foreheads with whatever we feel like carving. It will not be pretty (and keep in mind, this is a figurative form of speech - literal carving is too temporary for real accomplishments). We have come too far in our battles to unite the planet to let us lose ground during a good moment while we're celebrating a recent victory.
We are not trying to create a one world government or one culture movement. We celebrate diversity. We want different points of view in charge of regional areas of the world. Otherwise, we will stop learning from each other. But we will not accept intolerance. We will destroy those who have goals which seek the classification of people for negative purposes.
I warn those of you who segregate, those who blame your economic poverty or paucity of happiness on others. I am not the one you want to raise my ire. I am working to improve your life. But if you go after anyone for destructive reasons, you have not me but all my friends, colleagues and associates who will go after you with joy. I have no power in me. The power of those who unite will overcome those who speak ill of the dead or try to kill wastefully.
And meanwhile, the planet keeps going around the Sun, always just one ecological calamity away from erasing all of us. That's why it's important for us to stick together. We can't easily predict the next tsunami or solar flare but we can be united in being able to help each other recover from one while using technology to develop models for predicting volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons / hurricanes and incoming comets.
Music. Mathematics. Happiness. Non-generational. Non-gender. Non-ethnic. We can share the pain, expose our emotional weaknesses, show that in all of us are fear, longing and hope unrealized.
Tenuous. Momentary. Fragile.
I am a lucky person. I grew up without knowledge of the blinders people put on themselves and their children.
In the mirror I see an American male of northern European descent yet my best friends when I first started public school were of African descent and we took classes in Spanish in our first and second school years together. When I entered the office world, my first interview was with a fellow southern American who happened to be African-American. One of my favorite fellow employees is Indian and we like to eat hot, spicy food at Thai restaurants together. Some of my best managers have been female African-Americans and this is while living in Alabama (the "Heart of Dixie," our automobile license plates state). When I started out as a manager, my first employee was African-American, the best qualified person for the job. I have worked with, employed and worked for people who grew up in different places all over the world, with gender preferences that truly define a rainbow of differences. My wife and I owned part of a Japanese restaurant managed by a European-American man and Filipino-American woman with a great male Chinese server who worked there.
I cried last night because the media still wants to report impartial news stories that impart two-dimensional tales, stereotypical "either/or" stuff. Why?!?!?!!
Why are we always looking for a smoking gun? Why do we want people to blame or place guilt upon?
Why? Because it reflects us as one people. Our media reflect and drive forward our crowd personality with simple messages. Mob mentality for the sake of advertising revenue.
Every one of us has a child in our personality that remembers the love and discipline of our adult caretakers. We seek love and generally avoid harsh discipline. We don't want to hear harmful words and shouldn't have to.
At the same time, as adults we can recognize the history behind words with negative connotations and understand what others have taught us. We can open up conversations and ask what certain words mean to each other and why we don't want to hear them, healing the hurt inside for us as individuals and for us as one people.
Learning is joyful and painful. We cannot find innovative ways to create a sustainable future if we ignore the past. Sure, the past is behind us but we carry the past in our thoughts in every moment. Examine all your thoughts, understanding what they mean, both happy ones and sad ones. Don't be misled by media headlines. Look at yourself and those around you. You don't have to believe the stereotypes presented to you.
As I have demonstrated to myself, I will not let those who seek advantages in creating class warfare win. My associates will hunt them down, gladly marking the losers' foreheads with whatever we feel like carving. It will not be pretty (and keep in mind, this is a figurative form of speech - literal carving is too temporary for real accomplishments). We have come too far in our battles to unite the planet to let us lose ground during a good moment while we're celebrating a recent victory.
We are not trying to create a one world government or one culture movement. We celebrate diversity. We want different points of view in charge of regional areas of the world. Otherwise, we will stop learning from each other. But we will not accept intolerance. We will destroy those who have goals which seek the classification of people for negative purposes.
I warn those of you who segregate, those who blame your economic poverty or paucity of happiness on others. I am not the one you want to raise my ire. I am working to improve your life. But if you go after anyone for destructive reasons, you have not me but all my friends, colleagues and associates who will go after you with joy. I have no power in me. The power of those who unite will overcome those who speak ill of the dead or try to kill wastefully.
And meanwhile, the planet keeps going around the Sun, always just one ecological calamity away from erasing all of us. That's why it's important for us to stick together. We can't easily predict the next tsunami or solar flare but we can be united in being able to help each other recover from one while using technology to develop models for predicting volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons / hurricanes and incoming comets.
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