Here today, goon tomorrow.

I'm gone tomorrow. 
I hope things are still here when I return.
I'm off to see our enemies.
I hope they are still our friends.
We continue to strive to improve things,
But, I can't see where it will end.

Huh, what happened?

Huh, what's that?

Gee, that was fast. Did I miss something?
Oh, god, I must have missed something!

What is this feeling, it is almost like something I barely remember from a distant past.
Optimism?
Nah, it can not be right.

Something must be wrong. Something is being hidden.

Or, is it a new day?

Doldrums

Between the current and future problems.
Between the current and future solutions.
These current minutes are the doldrums.

There is an exquisite pain of waiting.

Waiting for the time to vote.
Waiting to see if my vote is accepted.
Waiting to see how many of my fellows' votes are accepted.
Waiting to see if all votes are counted.
Waiting to see if votes are correct.
Waiting to see the final "count".
Waiting to see if the candidate pushes the lawsuits (this time).
Waiting to see lawsuits results.
Waiting to see if the power hand off actually happens.
Waiting to see how the populous responds.

This great democracy has turned in to a slot machine.
Insert a new coin, there is always next time

But, you still lose.

Oops, I did it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sDoyCGVacU

I have nothing useful to say so I say: Fuck, here we go again!

....(or am I being trolled by the powers that be with fake video to give up hope?)

To quote what passes for an American role model: "Man, I don't even known any more."

Ephemeral Artistry

Your normal, depressing post has been preempted by this tiny bit of enlightenment:

When Buddhist sand sculptures are just too permanent for you:

http://www.snotr.com/video/1706

We now return you to your regularly scheduled depressing reality.

Our America

Al Jazeera is reporting the reality in Ohio.

Crap like this makes me feel so embarrassed for our country.

Part of the embarrassment is that these fellow countrymen of mine are ignorant, racist and stupid. The first two judgements are obvious. The last is that they rail against the candidate who's platform will actually help them while sucking up to the Dick, er, John, that wants to keep making them slaves to the true elite.

The other part that embarrasses me is that we can not rely on the (corporate owned) media of this country to shine the light on these cockroaches. Instead, we are lucky to have a news organization that is based half-way around the world that can give us this duty.

The recent projections here are maybe a reason for optimism that some people in my country still have some sense. But, I'm not very HOPEfull because in the end, I think we are destined for some dirty tricks that will put Mr Angry Senile Man and (she deserves no "Ms") Yahoo Corrupt Chick in to office.

State of the Union

The State of these United States:

• Voter rolls purged in a racist, partisan grab.


• Military coming home from foreign wars to police their fellow citizens.


• Executive orders allowing martial law and a permanent presidency.


• Incumbent party nominees calling front runner opponent a terrorist,
  
  • and condoning death threats against his person.


• Political dissidents placed in terrorist databases.


• Massive anti-capitalism corporate welfare paid by taxes.

And that is just in the past week!

Unfortunately, since I was a young kid I have been expecting this day.

New US president debating format.

Rules:

No individual moderator.

The candidates must be available for one week, 10 hours per day for queries by US citizens.

Queries will be addressed on a first come first serve basis. One question per citizen per queue is allowed.

All candidates from all parties are invited.

Each candidate sits in their own Faraday cage so as to assure no RF signals reach
the candidate and only their emitted sound waves reach external microphones.

No visual image of the candidate will be available during the debate.

Audible emissions are recorded by any and all media in attendance.

Any commentary on the responses are not allowed on public airwaves.

Any commentary on private airwaves or the Internet must be digitally signed by its originator.

First amendment: when candidates stray from the query, the citizen may press a button to send a Taser(tm) jolt through the buttocks of the candidate. The citizen is allowed 3 jolts until the query is nullified. Nullification does not count against the citizen's turn in the queue.

Petty tyrants

Do you have your own petty tyrants?
Do you have your own Bill O'Reilly's?
Do you suffer from the lack of calm, rational discussion?

Or are you living with a dearth?

Are you reading this or watching the video?

To other countries.

Now is the time for other countries to intervene.
Use your considerable intelligence to save us.
From us.

France, thanks for the statue, but what have you done for us recently?

'ies

When 2000 crept up on us we were in a panic.

Not about bad MicroSoft programmers and their short sited, miserly use of digits.
No, we were in a panic about what to call this decade.
The leading contender was "The Naughties", an allusion to our nothingness plus 
  our love and abhorrence of sin.

After living through just about all of this decade I suggest the "Insanities".
Sure it has no numerical reverberation but nonetheless it does describe this
  American decade.

When retrospectives broadcasts of this decade are turned into commercial vehicles
  they will be composed of 22 minutes of fingernails on chalkboards.

Bad Science From Comics

Ph.D Comics has either exposed a very bad physicist or strongly misquoted her:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1069

See first panel on third row. The entire follow up comic exacerbates this problem:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1070

Any scientist that throws away data not fitting a theory is nothing more than a religious nut. If faced with a practical need to throw away data, one must only do so to information that is already well understood.

My money is on Teresa being misinterpreted by the wannabe scientist comic artist.

Local passage north.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm biking again.
Not every day, but aiming for at least every week.
I live less than 5 miles from work, as the crow flies, but there is a small problem.
A parkway and an expressway makes a giant X between home and work, barring safe passage.
At least the locals are bike friendly....

But there is always the underground.
Dominant rail road right of way percolates though time to give its ancestral bikes safe passage.
And 2-stroke yahoos, drug dealers, graffiti artists, bottle smashers and other cherished malcontents.

Doesn't matter.
Half the ride is through beautiful woods, single and double track trails.
Sure, it's sandy or boggy depending on recent weather.
Because for a few stretches the ever prevalent overconsumption is almost forgotten. 

The most beautiful part comes after burrowing under the expressway to the North side.
Walking past the retaining wall muffles the roadway noise.
Then, there is an open path, greeting and inviting.
Sand is gone, hard packed trail awaits, comforting shade cools.

Oh, and ID? We don't need no fucking ID.

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride it well.

Look, I want you to be informed.
There are people who will try to kill you.
They see your lifestyle and want to end it.
It is up to you to decide to risk your life against them.
In order to get to school.
In order to get to work.

Why do they do it?  I can only guess.
Ignorance?  Laziness?  Inertia?  Self Interest?  Lack of Self Worth?
Hmm, maybe yes and something more (or probably less).

But, in the end, you meet the nicest people bicycling.
Like Mr. Trail, Ms Grass and little whipper snapper called Master Sand.

Or at least so says my past.
How to bring that wonder to my present?
Where age brings weakness in mental and physical pursuits?
How to keep on living and denying what is to come?

No answers here, but,
I find there is great hope.  
The more I bike the more I enjoy. 
The more I enjoy the healthier I get.

My only regrets are to have squandered so many years not enjoying.

S.B.J.

My mother recently visited Santa Barbara. There was going on this "Fiesta" thing. It has been described as:

Rich white men,
Dressed as brown men,
Dancing on the graves of red men.

She brought me back this important religious relic that epitomizes the event. I now pray to it nightly but nothing has happened yet.

When you are old you will relish things
  that were commonplace when you were young.
Sure, the physical degradation slows you down, 
  but the psychological restraint is what stops you.

List

P

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress,
A Boy And His Dog,
Idiocracy.

In that order, please.

And, then comes today. Now.

p

Physicists taught Rulers that Power is Energy expressed through Time.
This is true.
But, Rulers live on metaphor and not understanding.
They see Energy as a source of power.
Their power is not Power but control.
Their energy is not Energy but fuel for consumption by a complacent and complicit middle class.
And a means to extend their control.

Why is there a strong correlation between small minds and lust for control?
Why can leaders not strive for greater understanding instead of engrandizement?
These are not rhetorical questions.

Too Easy

p

Dear God, its Me, George.
I hope only you see this pledge that I write.
Lord, please protect my holy endeavors to bring riches to riches.
Forgive me when I have failed to do right by those that put me next to you.
And Lord, give me the strength to squeeze out the last drops of blood and money while I am still in term.
And finally, let me not see the despair that I create in Your name.

God bless Sweet Baby Jesus.

p

There is a certain barrier, a wall that must not be crossed.
Yet one gets pushed to that line.
Without wanting or even thinking.
Then, one is there; forced to decide.
What to do?

Read into these words one's own existence and not look towards mine.

"Oh Boy", err. Whatever.

p

Dear US Media (Providers of Interludes Between Commercials, ... oh right, and the News).

An idea for a cop-drama-thriller-(comedy?):

Scene: mid-crash suburb.

Concept: family dog dies. Family has a solemn ceremony and buries the body in the yard. All is acceptable and there are no repercussions. The family moves on and life eventually becomes regular again without their beloved dog.

Then, some time later, a human member of the family dies of natural causes. They decide that life is life and family is family and simply bury the remains next to the dog in the same spirit.

A neighbor sees this and reports it to the Official Authority which arrests, interrogates and finally jails the entire family because they went against GODS WILL of involving an Organized Belief System.

What follows are 12 episodes of hilarious and pointless attempts of the family to clear their GOD FORSAKEN, EVIL names with The Authorities, In God We Trust.

Season finale: the Father and the Son are executed; their bodies dropped in a shallow grave by the Official and Merciful Believers because their fingerprints were found on the shovels.

A-fukin-irony-men.



Oh, and the Mother shows up five minutes late with the tythe that would have saved them.

Word to the byte to the nibble to the bit.

To the QDB

Drop it: File Edit Options Buffers Tools Help

Yo, you talkin' all big on the i-r-c but you aint got nuttin' on me.
You thinkin' you can drop some terms like vax.
But you aint got the networking acks.
I walk the deep valgrind and drive the nameserver bind.
Lusers come and ask me "how to"
I just say make a delete for every new.
Significant whitespace you complain
Python still does indeed so reign.
So now you try to Scheme your rule,
But, all you know is basic Perl.

Bus error to your mother!

HBP

Pressure's rising
Heart's enlarged
Aorta could burst
Can't eat much salt

My arteries pounding.
So is my head
I wish I had a beer
I wish I could live

Cold turkey... has got me...
Well. Feeling quite better. Thank you for asking.


With apologies to John Lennon.