Musing For Today
                            Liberties ..... Rights ...... Self-government

                     Can there be more honorable concepts than those?

   But ...do they pan out in real life, when put to the test in the real world itself?

Someone falls asleep in bed while smoking and sets the apartment building on fire
...eventually rental properties start adapting "No Smoking" policies

Drivers run red lights, drive drunk or high, text while driving, commit numerous hit-and-runs
...and the industry starts experimenting with self-driving vehicles.  And public transportation, walking, and bicycling starts getting heavily promoted

Gun owners shoot others out of anger, jealousy, outrage or revenge instead of in self-defense
...and legislators start talking "Gun Control" laws

If you agree Western societies are, more and more, displaying strong tinges of totalitarianism don't just blame the ones in charge for this dismaying and destructive state of affairs

....you should also show equal contempt for the chronically irresponsible for the way they, when given the chance at personal freedom and the right and entitlement to "have nice things", seem to only know how to trash and destroy everything around them, to not know how to take proper care of themselves and whatever they own or are allowed access to.

Just take a look at how much trash and shit there is on public streets, how little regard there is for common courtesy---groups of people blocking doorways or aisles, or crowding sidewalks;  people putting their feet up on chairs in restaurants or the seats on buses and subways;  shameless littering and spitting on the sidewalks

....or the way people are always hustling each other and all-around "fucking with" one another
....and all sorts of financial irresponsibility
....and don't forget all the various modes of social and domestic dysfunctionality.

You have to figure those in charge, upon observing a lot of these behaviors, are going to regard us "average" types as generally being incapable of self-discipline, as being on the level of a toddler or small child, "in need of constant supervision and oversight" as "otherwise we keep getting ourselves in trouble".

Hence, the "Nanny State".
But ....just WHO is going to be assigned the role of "overseer" and "overlord" over us?  And what credentials are these individuals going to possess that will make them "worthy" of such a role?




                            Another site to check out: www.barney-quick.blogspot.com
                                                                     …and another: www.dahnbatchelorsopinions.blogspot.com

                       More on "Climate Change" ....
I don't, myself, doubt that there is a phenomenon the experts refer to as "climate change"----being old enough to remember what used to be "normal winters" in the Great Lakes region, wherein it would stay cold for weeks on end, and when it snowed we'd routinely get three to four feet when it was all over
...and the snow would stick around for at least a good two weeks or so before finally melting off to thin patches here and there.

My main problem with the "climate change" cultists is the way they keep asserting "greenhouse gases" are the main cause----that it's a purely man-made problem, without engaging in any sort of further in-depth studies and investigations into the matter.

The extreme hubris surrounding this subject, the way so many are so SURE of themselves when making such anecdotal conjectures.   No thought given to other potential causes, be they cosmic or terrestrial (sun spot activity;  underground volcanic activity;  once-every-6,000-year-cycle, and the like).

And then there are also the "climate change deniers"----those who believe such is not even occurring, in spite of the bizarre changes in weather patterns over the past 37 years or so.
So we are only allowed two choices:  "There is no such thing as 'climate change' or 'global warming'", or "We'll just have to give up all our modern-day amenities as our use of them is destroying our planet" (as if the earth, itself being a cosmic entity, is somehow incapable of self-regeneration).

They've recently painted a huge mural of teenage activist Greta Thunberg on the side of one of the tall buildings in San Francisco

I can just see it now:
One of the city's destitute residents takes a dump on the sidewalk.  And, pulling up their pants, they turn around
...and, right above them, is a giant-size "Greta head" glaring down at them ever-so-sternly, as if to say
"I saw what you did just now!  That was pretty nasty, you know!"

This Tuesday, the 5th, is yet ANOTHER election day (keeping in mind that it's NEXT year we're presented with the federal presidential election)

I could go on forever about how much I abhor and detest politics, how I view politics as being little more than disruptive to the systemic ecosystem---the way certain businesses and agencies shut down for the day, the way the media obsesses over the polls (as if suddenly "nothing else exists"), the way one is shamed if they don't partake in the charade of actually "caring about" issues one could never relate to anyway.

Seriously, though, those in charge will never really solve anything if they can help it.
The idea is to leave enough major problems unsolved so as to give the average person certain "issues" that "need addressing", and then present these "issues" in the form of campaign promises---all to nurture the "voting environment" and its accompanying mindset, that being the illusion the average person has of "having personal control over their own destiny".

This type of begriming and beguiling of the average first world social climate serves to keep the average Joe and Jane mollified by instilling in them the notion that they're "willing participants" in a system actually governed, ruled over, and controlled by the most valued overlords, and that the limited selection of "issues" are the ones of greatest concern, and (worst of all) that any kind of partaking on their part could ever alter or make that big a difference in any final/ultimate decisions made about what goes down next in their community/city/town/state/province/nation.

Search (In Vain) Engines

What's with all these internet search engines lately?

I type in "is public transportation in the u.s. degenerating?" and I get a list of websites about the local bus system along with medical sites about degenerative diseases.

...or I type in "are civil laws and penalties in the u.s. getting too strict?" and it displays a list of law firms, lawyers, or the web sites of law schools and different universities.

I always contended the algorithms and automation systems are only worth the character and knowledge levels of whoever programs them.
The more myopic and prejudice the programmers, the more limited your choices or options when using their programs.

More Song Analysis

Charlie's Shoes
Billy Walker
Protagonist begrudges his buddy's good fortune in finding the "perfect" beautiful girl
...but when his buddy breaks up with her and our protagonist moves in and "takes over" as her lover (finally getting his wish) he ends up suffering the backlash of a kind of "poetic justice" as he learns (the hard way) why his buddy could no longer stand her or continue supporting a woman of her stature.


Lookin' Back
Bob Seger
Strong anti-Vietnam War sentiments abound in this song, but Seger's lyrics also tear into the perils of social class as well


Good News Week
Hedgehoppers Anonymous
Most "progress" is primarily bullshit.  More about how to "make us look younger than our age" or about how to "make television screens look more realistic".  And the media's just as full-of-shit with their announcements of technological and medical "breakthroughs"
...all grandiose fanfare, but never coming up with anything that actually improves or enhances our quality-of-life

"What a wee little part of a person't life are his acts and his words!  His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself."

Mark Twain, you are my man!!!

Have you ever noticed ...
...that when you offend somebody they're suddenly "more important than everyone else"?

Overheard:
"...I can't stand weirdos.  Or freaks.  Or perverts.  I think all sick-os should be locked away from society permanently---so the rest of us don't have to put up with them.
I also can't tolerate people who are prejudice.  They discriminate against the blacks, the hispanics, women, gays, transsexuals, immigrants, the homeless.  Bigots should also be put away, too.  We don't need their kind either ..."

...Go figure! 

                                              Adage For Today
Being an outcast is a lot like being Jewish in early 1940s Germany and expecting justice in a courtroom

Why do they refer to these modern-day belief systems as "politically correct"?
Weren't they all conceived and initiated by special-interest factions of private citizens?

                  I've yet to hear a political candidate give a speech like
"...although the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees us our freedom of speech we still must not allow any further continuation of the unbridled usage of any kind of speech which has been deliberately worded in such a way as to undermine the integrity and psychological well-being of any one single individual or any one specific group of individuals or of any one or more organizations, businesses, or institutions
...that it now be considered necessary to enact and legislate written laws and decrees whose purpose is to collectively temper the content and tone of public discourse, be it speech or written matter---whether online or on paper---in a way which will keep our freedom of speech and freedom of self-expression from trampling on the dignity and sensibilities of all fellow American citizens, thus ensuring an environment of greater social and interactive diplomacy in our day-to-day face-to-face dealings with one another ..."

 Now At Participating It-Must-Be-A-Burger Restaurants
             Introducing the all-new Greta ThunBurger
A unique sandwich made with psychoactive ingredients guaranteed to transform you into an overzealously officious crusader/reformer on a mission to "save the planet" and to "save other people from themselves"

She doesn't fly because "the emissions from aviation are too high".  So the Swedish teen environmentalist/crusader sails across the Atlantic in a racing boat on a two-week trip from England to the United States (and during hurricane season no less).

Exactly how was this racing boat powered?  Did she, perhaps, take all her dumps into a special onboard device that transforms biological waste into "methane power"?

I think the reason she's garnered so much attention is because of how blunt and stark she is in her demeanor.
For whatever reasons people always overreact strongly to anyone who eschews their inhibitions or are just habitually blunt and candid about their honest thoughts and feelings, especially if in an irreverent manner.

                                        Adage For Today
          When an eagle is guarding its nest anything outside that nest will look like an "intruder" to it

Why is it any time you need to make contact with somebody they're never available?
...then, when they do decide to finally come around, they knock on your door when you're either still in bed, or on the toilet, or fixing to leave to go out somewhere?

I tell you, these "normal" people
...it really IS "their" world", and everything really is "on THEIR terms"!!

I swear, any Constitutional rights I may have end instantly the minute I make any kind of contact with another person.




                          Another site to check out: www.themindlessphilosopher.wordpress.com

                                                Authority Figures
Those allowed to control you who probably can't even take care of themselves properly or get their own lives together

Those bent of "reforming" and "rehabilitating" you even as they have plenty of character flaws and personal issues of their own

Fatalism
....believing that whatever happens is by divine autocracy

Why do they call a lot of these modern-day beliefs "politically correct"?
  Weren't they all initiated by "special interest" factions of PRIVATE CITIZENS?

                      I've yet to hear a political candidate give a speech like

"It is my understanding and my firm unequivocal belief that the American people can no longer be satisfied with or accepting of the notion that 'There can be but just two genders of humanity'.

That new policies for this new age proclaiming the existence of multiple genders must now be enacted to serve and satisfy the new breed of mankind and their future offspring and generations to come.

It is a new age for not only the United States, but for the rest of the world as well! ..." 

Yet another reason to loathe and despise the current crop of lawmakers:
The way they've been gradually deregulating business, industry, and government the past 40+ years while increasingly overregulating the private citizen and human behaviors

I often wonder about where I belong in this world.
I'm never really sure what my place is, where I really should be ....


>I'm too subversive, deviant, and lascivious to exist among the decent, respectable, moral, and cultured

>Yet I'm also too fair-minded, sensitive, compassionate, and ethical to exist among the depraved


...it's like I have nowhere to go.  I don't actually belong ANYWHERE.  There's no place for me.

                              Another Musing for you all
I notice there are still a lot of parents teaching their offspring good manners, about morals, responsibility, good work ethics, diligence, respect and consideration, fairness, decency, cooperation and sharing with others ...
And, while they're still young, a lot of preteens seem far more well-mannered, helpful, conscientious, and considerate than many adults you'll run into.

I wonder ..... 
What happens to a lot of those individuals later on, though? ....
Do they just, one day, decide "Hey, I'm grown up now.  I don't need this do-goody 'Romper Room' crap anymore.  I'm living in the REAL world now---I have to start being more realistic and down-to-earth.  From here on in it'll all be 'dog-eat-dog' and having to constantly 'one-up' those around me to keep from being swindled, scammed, and taken advantage of."?

...and they start being more aggressive, petulant, insensitive, rude, conspiring?

Landlords and apartment building managers-----always looking for an excuse to evict (or penalize) you:

>For being a day late or a dollar short on your rent

>For committing "vandalism" if there's as much as a scratch on the wall

>For "living in filth and squalor" if they as much as notice a layer of dust on any surfaces, or coffee drips on the floor

Like most any authority figure they're primarily into controlling and punishing, so even if you're not actually or intentionally doing anything wrong, that's simply a challenge to them to figure out a way to trip you up or entrap you somehow.  

I don't like the current crop of Liberty Mutual commercials.  They're no longer amusing.  They've become too stale, too bland.

I wish they'd bring back the ones they were showing, like, two or three years ago.  Those were great---downright hilarious, some of them were:

>The college girl wearing a second-hand dress who named her car "Brad"---then TOTALED "him".  While lamenting "Brad's" demise and passionately reminiscing "how close the two of them were" she "gets a call from Liberty Mutual", then "breaks into her 'happy dance'"---New Car Replacement
...I have to assume a follow-up to that might be "Good-bye 'Brad', hello 'Jack'" (her brand-new "replacement" car)

>The professionally-dressed temperamental career woman getting all pissy because her insurance company raised her rates and refused to provide her a "new car replacement" after she smashed her brand-new sports car into a tree

Bring back "Brad" and "Research"
...in their entirety, not the edited 30-second versions

                                   Musing For Today
I believe we should eliminate government spending ....
The government should not be spending taxpayer dollars
...it should be INVESTING them instead:

>Repairing and restoring the nation's infrastructure (roads, power grid, pipelines, sewer systems, and so forth)

>Improve and enhance urban public transit systems

>Establish a national tax-funded single-payer health care network

>Secure our international borders once and for all.
Strict enforcement of Customs and Immigration laws.  Quit allowing "stray cat" outsiders into our country when we already have enough of our own who also need help and support

>Reinstate and/or restore  critical health and safety regulations

As for the beneficiaries of government spending:
>Senators, governors, mayors, and members of Congress will just have to start paying out of their own pockets to take their "trophy" families on those frequent overseas vacations they gotten too so used to over the decades years

>Universities will have to start using the profits from their commercial venues (sports and concert arenas, shopping centers, various residential and commercial properties) to further fund future research projects

>Corporations and the military will have to learn to become more financially self-sufficient on their own

Biblical Version
He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm

Secular Version
One's viewpoints, attitudes, and behaviors are mostly determined by whose "books" one's been "reading" lately

Another page straight from the diary of Sisyphus
I don't know what to do!  It's all driving me too shit-fucking crazy!!!

The non-stop parade of obstruction construction projects going on non-stop everywhere you look, for at least a good five years now, with no end in sight.
It's not just the noise (including the high-pitch "Chinese water tortures" of trucks and equipment when in reverse), but the blocks of excavations necessitating figuring out "detours" when walking or driving, not to mention having to walk blocks down the street just to find a bus stop that hasn't been temporarily put out of service.

Then there are all the things falling apart inside my apartment, including a wall panel on one end of my kitchen sink counter being loose, the fluorescent light in the closet burning out, "panel-eating disease" on the blinds of the bathroom window.
It's been but three years since they've finished fully rebuilding, refurbishing,  and remodeling this stupid building, and ever since it's been one thing after another coming unhinged---from the roof to the intercom system (which they're STILL coming around every three to six months to work on, again and again).

Now, I understand---one expects things to break down, wear out, or malfunction from time to time.  And for repair work or the erection of structures to cause inconveniences for a given period or time
...but not EVERY TIME I TURN AROUND, or NON-STOP 24/7 FOR MONTHS OR EVEN YEARS ON END!!!!

That's what has me so psychopathic and ready to go completely insane.  If a project lasts only so long, then finally finishes in a timely manner, and everything goes back to normal
...or one thing goes on the fritz, and you either replace it or do without
...that's to be expected.

But,if one thing after another keeps coming at you like some perverse game of dodgeball where you're "fair game" no matter where you "stand", and where there's never any lulls in or respite from the intense activities all around you, how can one hope to keep their head on their shoulder?
This shit MUST stop some time!!
Like, maybe ...Yesterday!!  
...or a year ago! ....

"Experts?"

The "experts"
...contend children who are raised by both parents are more likely to succeed in school and, later in life, more likely to go on to college and land higher-paying occupations and professions as opposed to children who experience their parents separating or divorcing, or who are raised by a single parent

My parents never divorced and stayed together, yet look at how fucked-up I turned out.  
Of course frequent knock-down fights and financial difficulties DO still manage to have their impact on the domestic climate, don't they?

The "experts"
...contend children raised by parents who are well-educated have a better chance at academic achievement than children raised by parents with little or no education

My parents were college drop-outs but were musicians who also worked various unrelated odd jobs
...and I'm a high school drop-out with a G.E.D. who could never finish even one quarter of any 2-year college curriculum, spent most of my life working minimum-wage jobs in between bouts of homelessness

The "experts"
...contend children brought up in lower-income environments are the ones most likely at risk for experiencing domestic abuse or witnessing spousal abuse between their parents

I remember a news story from years ago about a prominent physician from a prosperous Jewish neighborhood in the New York City area who was facing trial on multiple domestic abuse and felonious assault charges stemming from years of routinely viciously battering his wife and children---in addition to subjecting them to extreme emotional abuses.
So much for financial, academic, and marital status being reliable barometers for determining a child's potential outcome in life.

The "experts"
...are experts at pigeonholing everything and everyone, and at patronizing whatever the current trendy narratives happen to be at the time.

In a different subset world

Listening to a weekly "Somewhere In Time" edition last Saturday night (rerun of an early original "Coast to Coast" with creator/original host Art Bell)


Caller: ...Can I just say, you seem like you're a well-educated guy.  I listen to all these other talk-show hosts and a lot of them seem so ignorant and narrow-minded.  But you come across as being so knowledgeable.

Art Bell:  Well, I did do a couple years of college.  However, most of what I've learned in life comes from all the traveling around I've done, from visiting other countries and absorbing some of the cultures of each one---and I've held down many different types of jobs over the years as well, in all sorts of areas.
So I think having been exposed to so many different environments is, in large part, responsible for having broadened my perspective, enabled me to look at everything from all angles----a lot more than one could do by strictly learning about the world from textbooks.  At least I'd like to think so, anyway.

Now, I'm not putting down higher education by any means, mind you.  I think there is immense value to getting a college education and to getting a degree.  I just don't believe it should be the only avenue one takes to acquire a well-rounded knowledge of the world.

I've known folks who went on to further their education, and got their degrees---their Masters and PhD.  And years later I would meet up with them again, and I would notice "something missing" about them.  Like they weren't able to function at everyday life in a normal way, and had problems relating to the average person.  As if, when taken outside the academic environment they seemed kind of "lost"
...like they've become "socially disabled" from spending so many years of their life mostly inside an academic environment ....


Personally I think this to be essentially true of all of us.
We're all "socially disabled" to a large extent because of the domestic and demographic influences we've allowed ourselves to be limited to most of our lives.
The only people who make sense to us are either "our own kind" or those who express attitudes or opinions similar to our own.
You'll always notice having to be around "just anyone else" whose conversations drift off into subject matters we have no concern about or interest in for any length of time tends to make us a bit "antsy", ready to excuse ourselves and move on.

Isn't the "Abortion" issue really a relatively simple one to solve?

Like: Don't get pregnant in the first place

>Teach the boyfriends what a condom is, how to use it, and what purpose it serves

>Don't engage in full-fledged sex if you don't desire children, or are not in a position financially or socially to accommodate them and the sacrificial care their existence entails

>Teach the girls that "No!" can also apply to their boyfriend just as much so as it can to "strange creepy guys" (or incestuous relatives).  If their lover threatens to end the relationship just over that he wasn't worth hanging on to anyway

Kudos to the "Pro-Choice" crowd for their efforts at population control (that IS their primary motive, isn't it?)

Kudos to the "Pro-Life" crowd for reiterating the concept of "personal moral responsibility" over being narcissistic, infantile and ephemeral with one's adult desires

It always amuses me the way normal people keep going on and on about "liberties", "freedom", "personal rights", and "one's right to choose"

...then sell themselves out to the social construct:
>Everyone wears the same clothes and styles
>Everyone "has to" get their tattoos
>Everyone has an iPhone or SmartPhone
>Everyone's personal vehicle is either a "jelly bean" shaped compact car, an S.U.V., or "monster-sized" pickup truck.  And every make and model of each type of vehicle all have the same features and same dimensions
>Everyone is a caricature of their ethnic ancestry, their gender, their social class, their academic level, their sexual preference, their political beliefs, their religious affiliation, their idealism, their subcultural affiliations
>Everyone watches the same latest movies, the same current television shows, and listens to the same latest popular music
>Everyone is obsessed with 24/7 sports and the current crop of "idol" professional and college athletes and coaches
>Everyone is constantly fixated on currently popular famous "idol" entertainers
>Everyone is obsessed with politics and politicians
>Everyone gravitates to current social trends like they were the "gospel" on how to live and behave
>No-one ever notices the parallels between the present social climate and what's happened in the past

                                             Musing For Today
One of my recent trips to the coin laundry was a brief nightmare at the start.

When depositing quarters into the washer they kept getting stuck, and as I kept hammering the side of the coin box the attendant came over, stating "You don't have to hit it", then kept pressing the coin return to retrieve each quarter that kept getting stuck, displaying the algebraic techniques and procedures necessary for performing the complicated task of getting a coin washer started.  She was even "generous" enough to allow me to put the last two quarters in myself ("You just need two more quarters now").

Any casual observer would have wagered on it being my very first trip to a coin laundry.  
Amazing how a machine can reduce one's intelligence by 100 I.Q. points by simply being "uncooperative", as apparently "it has to be something I'M doing wrong" to cause such issues.  Maybe I'm just retarded, or just "don't know what the fuck I'm doing".

Fortunately my luck with the dryer was much better:
Lay down dryer sheets, transfer freshly washed threads from washer to dryer, set mode (high heat), close door, insert dollar coin, press "start"
...all went off without a hitch.  My intelligence level raised back up 100 I.Q. points.

Two days later I have to return to the same coin laundry.  Same attendant at the counter ("Uh-oh!").
Grudgingly, I put detergent in the washer basin, load the clothes, shut the lid, then pull out my change bag and grab a handful of quarters
...using a different machine now, I feed the first quarter in:  "Plunk!"---just "flew down the chute" like it was "greased on the inside".  Smo-o-o-o-th!!  I followed with the rest of the quarters---they also just "slid down", without a hitch.  EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!  The "select cycle" light blinks, I select "colors" (warm wash, cold rinse), press button
I'm elated!!!  My I.Q. level is now shown to be on the up-and-up.  I "know what I'm doing" once again, just like all the other times before.  I'm, once more, "knowledgeable" and "competent".

It's amazing the power appliances and gadgets have over our souls:
When they malfunction in our hands they show us up as being "ignorant and stupid fuck-ups who don't know what the hell we're doing" or as being "too inept to figure out how to properly use the settings or applications".
When they perform flawlessly and function smoothly (as programmed/promised) in our hands they verify our abilities and aptitude for figuring things out on our own, as well as our level of knowledge, our competence and reliability.

I realize how much our own level of intelligence and our abilities are gauged by how well our machines, appliances, and gadgets are able to perform when it's OUR hands pressing the button, flicking the switches, or turning the knobs.

Another argument against the advent of a Cashless Society:
The interest charged on every transaction done with a credit or debit card

Honestly!!!!  15% or 20% interest
...on a $12 meal at a restaurant, or on a $30 Mr. Coffee coffee-maker???

And to think, 22 years ago, the first time I witnessed someone actually purchasing a six-pack of beer with a credit card I literally fell on the floor of the convenience store laughing my ass off.





                                     Another site to check out: www.curtispew.wordpress.com

The Police

Highly Paid Professionals

CEOs

Business Owners

Authority Figures (in general)

Politicians

Physically Attractive "Trophy Cunt" Girls and Women

Domineering "Alpha" Males/"White Knights"

Celebrities

Media Moguls

Highest Ranking Military Officers

Professional and College Athletes and Coaches

Academia

"Soccer Moms"

"Trust Fund" Babies (/Offspring)


...the above have managed to successfully achieve what the Nazi's aspired to during their 12-year reign (from 1933 to 1945) but, alas, could only dream of attaining
...each and every one are indisputably the "Master Races" of all humanity!!!!

                        SHARE THE ROAD
                        MOTORISTS, BICYCLISTS, e-SCOOTERS

If we all band together we can do an even better job terrorizing and intimidating pedestrians:

Motorists  can run them over in the crosswalks and parking lots


Bicyclists and e-Scooters  can run them off the sidewalks and onto the curb, lawns, or the side of buildings

Let's show those worthless dregs on foot who's REALLY "boss of commuters"

                                            Adages For Today
You should never hold another responsible for anything they may do or say while drunk, antagonized, traumatized, or outraged



If we were to judge the weather the same way we do other people then the next time we had to suffer a major storm we would be vowing to "never again venture outside"

                                                       Hobbism
The philosophical system of Thomas Hobbes---especially: The Hobbesian theory that people have a fundamental right to self-preservation and to pursue selfish aims but will relinquish these rights to an absolute monarch in the interest of common safety and happiness

Damn!!  "The History of Mankind", past, present, and future---summarized.

These days most modern-day "monarchs" are celebrities, the wealthy, the politicians and officials, the media, and upper-middle-class suburbanite types.
Don't bother mentioning the police, now, as they're essentially the "hatchet men" for these modern-day "monarchs".

                                 Hobson's choice (revisited)
I noticed, as I was fixing myself something to eat, that anything I buy at the supermarket are items that others have predetermined should be made available for us consumers to purchase.
In other words, what's being offered to us are whatever SOMEONE ELSE has decided are what should be made available for us to choose from.

That is, they're controlling the narrative of "freedom of choice", counting on us to simply be passive and "accepting" of whatever's out there to choose from, however limited or monolithic the offerings.

When one thinks about "power tripping" they normally envision scenarios of strongarm-style physical force, threats, or coercion.  Or Draconian laws and penalties with strict enforcement.
Hardly ever does it occur to us that a great way for whoever's in charge to control people would be if said controllers "do all the work themselves" so as to better ensure the creation of an environment and social climate that fits their ideals, beliefs, criteria, and standards, leaving those they wish to control in a "passive" state, simply laying back and allowing themselves to be served whatever it is the "system" dishes out to them.

In short---one way to tyrannize the general populace is to assume a stance of "servility" so as to be able to control the "offerings" you present to them wherein the most pragmatic decision the controlled populace can make is to simply "take advantage of" what's being "dropped in their laps", of what's being made readily available to them.

                                              Adages For Today

Sharing means: "If your roommate sets the apartment building on fire you also lose everything you own and wind up homeless"


Forget all the cheap talk surrounding "racism" and "anti-Semitism".  Favoritism is the REAL prejudice.  Just focus on Favoritism and it'll automatically also include "racism" and "anti-Semitism"



Our legal system could stand to use less judicial and more judicious

Recent findings have shown that people who routinely skip breakfast have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular diseases


See, Virginia, there IS some merit in the coffee, banana, and donuts I start my days out with after all

                                            Various Musings

I can understand the demise of the printed press in light of the immediacy of the internet.
Take the weekly news magazines for example---their motto seems to have always been "Last week's news with next week's date issued this week"


I'm the kind of person who, if asked whether the cup is half-full or half-empty, would respond "What are you bothering me with this stupid shit for?  If it's that much of an issue for you then either finish whatever's left or fill the damn glass back up!"


Why would the average politician make such a great dog owner?
Because politicians are so well-honed at knowing how to "throw us a bone"

Yes, I live here .....or, maybe, I don't ......

One thing to be said about houses or apartment units---one never actually "lives" there.
You can't simply kick back, relax, and just LIVE.  You have to actually TAKE CARE OF your place of residence (even if you're single, no children, own no pets, you still have to take care of your residence the same way you would a kid or a pet).

--You'll find yourself providing janitorial services---cleaning, dusting, wiping down surfaces, scrubbing crud off of surfaces

--All maintenance services will have to be provided by you as well:  temperature/indoor climate control; arrangement of furniture, tables, indoor appliances and entertainment systems, lamps, etc.

--You'll find yourself a "curator" of a "museum" of all manners of written and recorded matter

--You'll find yourself working in an "office environment":  sorting through and filing important documents and records, filling out and/or signing forms and writing letters, with "in" boxes and "out" boxes

--You'll find yourself in charge of a "warehouse", with all kinds of products in storage for future use.  And constantly taking inventory and putting away or taking down "stock".  And "filling out orders" for future "stock" as well.

--You'll own and manage your own "restaurant" in which you're the cook, waitstaff, busboy, dishwasher, and customer all at the same time.  At least there's no tab to pay nor any tipping.  But you still have to pay for the food and "place your order" (but always in advance, of course)

--You'll find yourself in the role of "inspector", periodically checking your residence over for damages, flaws, defects, hygiene/sanitation issues, maintenance issues (concerning plumbing, heating/air conditioning, and major appliances)

--You'll provide your own "laundry services" as well:  either tracking down coin laundries, finding the right time to use the laundry room (if one is provided by management), or---in the case of homeowners or house renters---purchasing your own washer and dryer

--When you're finally ready to lay down and go to sleep you're then the "manager" of your own "self-serve hotel/motel

--Home owners and house renters:  you'll also have to be a "yardman" as well.  Remember, the grass won't cut itself, nor are the bushes self-trimming

It's rumored that Thomas Edison had servants to do his laundry, keep both his residence and laboratory clean, cook his meals, and do his shopping as well.
That's probably why he has so much time to focus on his experiments and inventions. 

                                                  Priorities

It's no trade secret that while digital technology itself is ever-improving in droves everything else is either stagnating---or even deteriorating.

It's because in order for anything to either improve or be well-maintained it has to be nurtured and enhanced continuously.

Whatever has highest priority in society, government, or business and industry, that's going to be what gets the most attention and focus from those in charge.  And, lately, what's top priority is no longer radio, television, literature, the recording industry, nor even the movie industry.  And it's not the railroads, the airlines, or the infrastructure.

All the main focus is on high tech and cyber-infrastructures.

Oh, sure, they're keeping all those other traditional elements alive for the sake of posterity and due to the fact they've made such a dent in western (and world) culture for so long their impact on us isn't exactly going to disappear overnight

...but, nonetheless, they're now being "maintained" in such a half-assed manner they've become, pretty much, a cheap imitation (and knock-off) of their former original selves.

                                                   What is truth?

Didn't Johnny Cash approach this subject a long time ago?

Considering the societies we live in are, essentially, socialist republics---that is, societies ruled solely by word of law---anything the lawmakers state in writing and have officially enacted is pretty much determined to be fact or truth (or at least collective gospel).

This means any society can "change" its own reality, history, morality, social construct, and just about anything else, with but a stroke of the pen.  Because in a socialist republic "The Law" rules over everything else.

What "happened in the past" will be whatever the official narratives SAY happened in the past (actual facts and reality be damned)
"Right" and "wrong" are purely subjective, prone to the whims of whoever's in charge and whatever they hold in highest esteem in terms of whatever they consider "proper".
What's "important" is whatever whoever's in charge decides is of highest priority.

Responsibility (revisited)

I find it amusing that the speed limit on one of the streets running through the Ohio State University area is 25 MPH.  College students never drive under 40 MPH as a rule.  The only time a college student ever goes under 40 MPH is after they've collided with another vehicle, almost run a red light, or nearly hit a pedestrian or bicyclist in a crosswalk.
They're among those who "don't have to be responsible", so they tend to be careless and insensitive/thoughtless in their ways and mannerisms.

I have this weird theory that the reason certain people are successful in life, or are able to simply glide along smoothly without being tripped up by a need for excessive self-consciousness due to "guilt trips" is because they're not bogged down by having to answer for every damn thing they do or say of a thoughtless or reckless nature or that would cause another certain hardships.
And without those obstacles in their way they can go about doing whatever it is they normally do without constant interference by others getting in their face over each and every infraction that results in their having "carelessly cut" someone else.

It's like this:
If Einstein had to answer for everything he said that someone else found "offensive" we'd probably never have gotten The Theory of Relativity, for he'd have been too distracted by "social contract" to focus on anything else.

Likewise, if Edgar Allan Poe had to register each month as a "sex offender" with the local constabulary for having married his 14-year-old cousin (including having to attend all the legally-mandated counseling sessions that accompany being put in such a category) do you think he'd ever have had a chance to get around to writing such classics as MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE RAVEN, or THE TELL-TALE HEART?

GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!

I don't know what it is with these folks who block doorways, hog aisles in stores and restaurants, take up the whole sidewalk when walking in pairs or groups.

We're not talking about 5-year-olds or kids in grade school.  We're talking people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond.

Didn't their parents teach them anything when they were growing up?  Like, when in church they and a sibling or two were spread out across a whole pew and their mom would call out "Hey, scoot over already!  Make room for others to sit".  Or, when going out somewhere and it was two or three of them in the back seat, and mom stopped off to pick up a couple more friends or relatives to join them, and she'd scold them "Hey, kids, there's still enough room for another back there.  Scoot over."

It's hard to believe anyone could live as long as some people have and no-one's ever told them "Hey, come on.  Move over already!" or "Hey, man!  Outta my way!" enough times for it to finally sink in they and their friends (or close relatives) are not the only ones occupying space on planet earth.

But, to this day, there are far too many who still don't know enough to "stand to the side so others can get through as well".

I swear ...

..."normal people"!  So many of them can be such megalomaniacs, can't they?

It's truly "THEIR world".

                                     Musing For Today

Whatever else one may have to say about the internet, one positive about it is the way one can find minds who are together, insightful, and have sound perspectives on various issues and subjects.

Somehow, face-to-face, everyone I run into is either a stranger, someone I "only do business with", or has some kind of authority.  Bonding of any kind, even intellectually, is out of the question.
The only concerns others around me seem to have are of a "scripted" jejune juvenility vein
...for example:  back in the '70s and '80s all anyone could talk about was "getting drunk" (or "getting high"), "getting laid", and "partying"
...these days it's a lot of "crusader" fare:  "ending domestic violence", "ending discrimination", "ending sexual harassment", "anger management", "curing cancer", "putting an end to alcohol and drug addiction", "putting an end to 'hate speech' and 'verbal abuse'", and the like.

Same type of insipid collectivist superficiality, different narrative.

The internet may have its fair share of iniquities, but often it can also be the only refuge for those seeking out some modicum of intelligent adult dialogue.
And I, for one, need something---anything---to counteract the inane dreck that comprises all the current social (and legal) narratives being heaped on all of us come lately.