a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom
March 04, 2008
February 27, 2008
ups/downs
I have a recurring dream where I'm in a moving vehicle (definitely a convertible) that goes over a series of ups/downs in the road. Each time a peak is reached I levitate a little bit and then plunk back into the car. The dream feels just like the hollowness I've experienced in my waking life when driving over a rise, that lifting/dropping sensation. In the dream I hold on so I won't drift up (no seatbelts on this ride). Eventually I hit the big bump, and I can't hold on, my seat escapes below me, and I'm floating up and over the road... distinctly aware of the eminent impact.
One variation: being in a train that goes through the same process – lifting off the rails at the top of a big rise and floating upward and out of control. Free from the tracks for a moment, but ultimately under the influence of gravity.
It's numbingly terrifying. Speaking of dropping... Jerrrrrsey!
On the plus side, there's Duckman:
"And a pedigreed golden retriever. Because pedigreed is good."
Check out the full episodes on YouTube, this show rocks.
One variation: being in a train that goes through the same process – lifting off the rails at the top of a big rise and floating upward and out of control. Free from the tracks for a moment, but ultimately under the influence of gravity.
It's numbingly terrifying. Speaking of dropping... Jerrrrrsey!
On the plus side, there's Duckman:
"And a pedigreed golden retriever. Because pedigreed is good."
Check out the full episodes on YouTube, this show rocks.
February 20, 2008
Fear is a Renewable Resource
"America was founded by men who understood that the threat of domestic tyranny is as great as any threat from abroad. If we want to be worthy of their legacy, we must resist the rush toward ever-increasing state control of our society. Otherwise, our own government will become a greater threat to our freedoms than any foreign terrorist."
– Ron Paul, from Freedom vs. Security: A False Choice
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
– John "Q-Tip" Adams
Perhaps the application of the second quote is to do the right thing even (especially) when the wall of opposition seems insurmountable. Now, where did I put my "The Good and You" reference guide? Often it is speciously simple to ossify what the right thing is. In many situations it becomes a matter of perspective. An example is the spectrum of viewpoints on current military action by the United States.
I have encountered, and at times been a self-contained example of, an array of conflicting beliefs held by the highest conviction as being right. I find it epistemologically problematic when people hold contradictory, irreconcilable absolutes. If, as Lennon/McCartney placed in addled words, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together," then I feel a shared culpability for others' absolutes, as they could easily have been my own. This affliction of empathy is uncommon amongst the highly polarized/politicized compartments of Democrats and Republicans. The team-mentality of election time in the U.S. is a playful outcropping of a deep need for "Us and Them," a deadly way of alleviating our personal fear and guilt by clinging to a group dependent on each other for survival.
I think we are each imbued with an innate sense or intuition for the good, although that intuition requires empirical honing. That honing should include drawing on the collective experience of history to augment our individual lens for the world. My personal intuition about implementing the good has been very haze-y in recent years, but some developments have emerged. "Revolution is dead." "Why bother?" "There is nothing new under the sun." Lazy pessimism. The battle of wills that has raged for the millennia is a race toward death, but there is, perhaps, another way. It involves withdrawal and self-sacrifice, not revivalist coercion or militant fascism. Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"To preserve the freedom of the human mind and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement."
It's all about Freeeedom, man. Liberty. Not the vacuous hedonism of self-destruction and dogmatic nihilism. Nor the false construct of mystical superstition. I appreciate the inclusion of "freedom of the press" as a sibling to "freedom of the human mind." The communication of ideas, education by a variety of perspectives, is the best hope for the improvement of the condition of man.
I was looking for a clip from King of the Hill where Dale Gribble (a cartoon hero of mine) is using bookstore basement as a firing range.
"And so we say farewell to A Farewell to Arms."
[Blasts a giant hole through the dangling book.]
Copyright-infringement-free YouTube has failed me, but I did come across this, which seemed relevant (and priggishly obscure) enough:
The Minute Men perform "King of the Hill" – I checked out some more of their stuff. Don't really care for the sound, a kind of frantic, strained, ska-punk-pop. And thought the production value of this video was pretty childish (ok, I like the part where the big dude rolls down the hill). But their counterculture appeal against modern feudalism is cool.
– Ron Paul, from Freedom vs. Security: A False Choice
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
– John "Q-Tip" Adams
Perhaps the application of the second quote is to do the right thing even (especially) when the wall of opposition seems insurmountable. Now, where did I put my "The Good and You" reference guide? Often it is speciously simple to ossify what the right thing is. In many situations it becomes a matter of perspective. An example is the spectrum of viewpoints on current military action by the United States.
I have encountered, and at times been a self-contained example of, an array of conflicting beliefs held by the highest conviction as being right. I find it epistemologically problematic when people hold contradictory, irreconcilable absolutes. If, as Lennon/McCartney placed in addled words, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together," then I feel a shared culpability for others' absolutes, as they could easily have been my own. This affliction of empathy is uncommon amongst the highly polarized/politicized compartments of Democrats and Republicans. The team-mentality of election time in the U.S. is a playful outcropping of a deep need for "Us and Them," a deadly way of alleviating our personal fear and guilt by clinging to a group dependent on each other for survival.
I think we are each imbued with an innate sense or intuition for the good, although that intuition requires empirical honing. That honing should include drawing on the collective experience of history to augment our individual lens for the world. My personal intuition about implementing the good has been very haze-y in recent years, but some developments have emerged. "Revolution is dead." "Why bother?" "There is nothing new under the sun." Lazy pessimism. The battle of wills that has raged for the millennia is a race toward death, but there is, perhaps, another way. It involves withdrawal and self-sacrifice, not revivalist coercion or militant fascism. Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"To preserve the freedom of the human mind and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement."
It's all about Freeeedom, man. Liberty. Not the vacuous hedonism of self-destruction and dogmatic nihilism. Nor the false construct of mystical superstition. I appreciate the inclusion of "freedom of the press" as a sibling to "freedom of the human mind." The communication of ideas, education by a variety of perspectives, is the best hope for the improvement of the condition of man.
I was looking for a clip from King of the Hill where Dale Gribble (a cartoon hero of mine) is using bookstore basement as a firing range.
"And so we say farewell to A Farewell to Arms."
[Blasts a giant hole through the dangling book.]
Copyright-infringement-free YouTube has failed me, but I did come across this, which seemed relevant (and priggishly obscure) enough:
The Minute Men perform "King of the Hill" – I checked out some more of their stuff. Don't really care for the sound, a kind of frantic, strained, ska-punk-pop. And thought the production value of this video was pretty childish (ok, I like the part where the big dude rolls down the hill). But their counterculture appeal against modern feudalism is cool.
February 08, 2008
Out of Time, Out of the Muck
"Out of the muck" is derivative poker terminology for off the ground or up to speed (i.e. – "Finally, this game is out of the muck"). Which is odd, because muck refers to the discard pile at a poker table. Maybe it is slightly pejorative, muck, since it also can be used as a verb; to fold. And folding is lame.
a·nach·ro·nism - noun
a·nach·ro·nism - noun
- Something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time.
- An error in chronology in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one.
February 06, 2008
The Grand!
Yes, Gabe Kaplan is in this movie. And David Cross:
How did you learn to play poker?
"By playing darts."
How did you learn to play poker?
"By playing darts."
YouTube!
I'm seeing a lot of questionable exclamation points recently.
Cheers, YouTube, for being so conducive to lazy blogging.
What about exclamatory question marks – Who's on stage?
Cheers, YouTube, for being so conducive to lazy blogging.
January 21, 2008
Fecund Mind
"During asparagus season, members are requested not to relieve themselves in the hatstand."
Sniffing for a solution to another of life's great mysteries, I went straight to the source (previously effective in illuminating pompatus).
Found that the smell in urine produced by ingesting asparagus is attributed to thioacrylate and thiopropionate, stinky compounds known as thioesters – according to the 1975 findings of UCSD chemist Robert White. The metabolic processes by which the chemicals are formed in urine were not determined by that study.
Mystery prevails.
"Love. A urine mirage in a desert of fear."
P.S. – just because fecund sounds like it has something to do with bodily functions doesn't make it so.
Sniffing for a solution to another of life's great mysteries, I went straight to the source (previously effective in illuminating pompatus).
 |
| From big steps + l... |
Found that the smell in urine produced by ingesting asparagus is attributed to thioacrylate and thiopropionate, stinky compounds known as thioesters – according to the 1975 findings of UCSD chemist Robert White. The metabolic processes by which the chemicals are formed in urine were not determined by that study.
Mystery prevails.
"Love. A urine mirage in a desert of fear."
P.S. – just because fecund sounds like it has something to do with bodily functions doesn't make it so.
Mr. Pitiful
"Unfamiliar Faces" new album from Matt Costa release tomorrow (1/22/08 - big day for the Gloucester Township Municipal Court).
Single out now, you can see the video on YouTube and others on mattcosta.com
Since I can't embed here, you get "It Makes No Difference" from Scorcese film of The Last Waltz:
Single out now, you can see the video on YouTube and others on mattcosta.com
Since I can't embed here, you get "It Makes No Difference" from Scorcese film of The Last Waltz:
January 11, 2008
en·tro·py - noun
- A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.
- A measure for the loss of information in a transmitted message.
- The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
- Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.
December 22, 2007
mac_attack
I was watching a show about Ralph Nader last night on PBS. Seemed to have a pro-Nader, pro-third-party slant, maybe not. there were a number of interviews with former "Nader's Raiders" (from Ralph's days as a consumer/political watchdog in decades past) decrying his "spoiling" of the Dems (Gore, then Kerry) by running on a third-party ticket. I laughed. Nader stated that there wasn't "a dime's worth of difference between the two parties;" everyone's in the pocket of corporations and special interests.
He referenced the stature and glory of politics in its birthplace, ancient Greece. Now the word has a worse than negative connotation. Politician is never far from crook, liar, self-server in most people's minds. The only thing that keeps us committed to the political process is a ritualistic cycle of self-delusion, induced at election time. People convince themselves, chant "Hooray for our side!" then run to the polls. Each time a lesser-of-two-evils is elected, both parties are innately enabled to become more evil. It's not a two-party system – it's a sham perpetrated by the oligarchy.
I tell people that I don't vote. I support the system implicitly by understanding that real power is not held by the population and its ability to vote.
And I let it be.
Voters don't like hearing this, and respond:
You can't complain if you don't vote. Voting is your voice. Every vote counts. It's your sacred right as an american. Or the most popular: you HAVE to vote.
Amusing, these demo-fascists, trying to force their beliefs about voting in america on me. Maybe the american public has been so conditioned (by who, I wonder) to associate their participation in voting with liberty and democracy that any contradiction to such a notion seems like heresy. Proselytizing ensues.
ANYWAY, I did speak up at my former place of employment. Subjugation to incompetent tyranny was the response mandated after my voice was heard. So I quit/was fired. So much for the stature and glory of small-business. Here's my new place of employment:
Working from home. Not sure if that's a blessing or a curse - a terrible autonomy, so to speak. Going well so far.
He referenced the stature and glory of politics in its birthplace, ancient Greece. Now the word has a worse than negative connotation. Politician is never far from crook, liar, self-server in most people's minds. The only thing that keeps us committed to the political process is a ritualistic cycle of self-delusion, induced at election time. People convince themselves, chant "Hooray for our side!" then run to the polls. Each time a lesser-of-two-evils is elected, both parties are innately enabled to become more evil. It's not a two-party system – it's a sham perpetrated by the oligarchy.
I tell people that I don't vote. I support the system implicitly by understanding that real power is not held by the population and its ability to vote.And I let it be.
Voters don't like hearing this, and respond:
You can't complain if you don't vote. Voting is your voice. Every vote counts. It's your sacred right as an american. Or the most popular: you HAVE to vote.
Amusing, these demo-fascists, trying to force their beliefs about voting in america on me. Maybe the american public has been so conditioned (by who, I wonder) to associate their participation in voting with liberty and democracy that any contradiction to such a notion seems like heresy. Proselytizing ensues.
ANYWAY, I did speak up at my former place of employment. Subjugation to incompetent tyranny was the response mandated after my voice was heard. So I quit/was fired. So much for the stature and glory of small-business. Here's my new place of employment:
Working from home. Not sure if that's a blessing or a curse - a terrible autonomy, so to speak. Going well so far.
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