Today I gave up “giving up”

For months, or is it years, or maybe decades of seeing the moronic knee-jerk responses of the American public (and somewhat also many people in the world outside our borders) I have responded “I GIVE up!!” Today I said it again, as usual over some political crap, and though “Giving up doesn’t work Woody. It takes too much energy to give up. You have to do something to change this attitude.” So I decided to give up giving up. No more will I turn with disgust from the pages of the NY Times, the Washington Post, The Sydney Daily Telegraph, Reuters and NPR. Not worth the effort. So I will just say “Hmmmm, more morons doing moronic things. Let’s see what Science News has going on today.’ I grant to the rest of the world the right and privilege of “giving up”. As for me: count me out.

Image: http://www.themillionairesecrets.net/images/2008/07/never-give-up.jpg

Right Now I'll Settle for a Good Rain

An old friend of ours from Australia has a song on her album “From the Heart” that has a line “All we need is a good rain”. Today, here in good old Havana we finally got a good rain. Still raining in fact. The soil is very thirsty. As it started to rain, the refrain from the song played once again in my mind (we play the album often, and still blub through most of the songs). And I thought, no, we need more than a good rain. We need civility and trust, and we need time to sort out all the problems facing us as a nation and world. We need solutions that curb populations and help to reduce poverty. We need to empower women all over the world, yes, even here. We need so very very much just to survive.
But I’ll settle right now for a good rain. Thanks Dianna. You and yours are a constant with Sal and me.
Image: Dianna Hammond at http://www.australiaday.com.au/ambassadors/ambassadors.aspx?AmbassadorID=175

Science is better than Politics

“The more carbon that gets released into the atmosphere, the higher the average temperature rises.
That's a scientific fact.
Human activities, such as driving, flying, building and even turning on the lights, are the biggest contributor to the release of carbon.
That too, is a fact.
And yet the majority of Republicans running for House and Senate seats this year disagree” (1).

I know some of you agree with the ignorant and science-hating people mentioned in the article quoted above. And if the national action to curb greenhouse gasses is stalled by a recalcitrant congress we will all suffer, including the morons that deny the science. I am sorry for those of us that know the truth yet will probably suffer for the stupidity of the deniers. I am not sorry at all for the deniers. They will suffer along with the rest of us, and it will be their fault. Unfortunately the entire world is watching us make utter asses of ourselves while they take the problem seriously. Even China and India are preceding with carbon reduction programs. While we screw around with politics.
A student told me the other day in response to a discussion on this: “Well, we are all in God’s hands.” If that is true, then God just washed them. We are on our own. No Deus Ex Machina on the horizon for us. Just a lot of suffering. Thanks guys for ignoring the science. I hope you lose your elections, because if you don’t, we all lose.

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130776747&sc=nl&cc=nh-20101024
Image from same source as above citation.

"The Meeting"

Ever think about how economics work? No? At the roots of economics is this: You make or do something that you sell to someone else to get money that you can then use to buy what they make or do. Barter works the same way. You grow pigs and trade them for veggies or pots or fripperies that were produced by people who wanted pigs.
I have come to believe that the same system exists within many if not all organizations. This system is organized around “The Meeting”. In Educational Institutions meetings are the currency. Meetings occur on a daily basis, and the outcome of many is to set a time to meet again, and to refer issues to groups that must have meetings that in turn report back to the first group in, you guessed it, a meeting.
Periodically there are meetings to bring the results of other meetings together for review. These meetings usually result in the distribution or redistribution of tasks back to the groups that reported, thus safely generating more meetings to keep everyone employed.
In fairness, sometimes something emerges from a meeting that is not immediately sent to another group to meet about. These things are called “Decisions”. After all is said and done, Decisions are usually the product of one or two people who actually run the highest meetings, and ideally, but not always, are reached using the consultations derived from all the other meetings. Naturally, after a Decision is reached, the impact must be thoroughly reviewed and evaluated in a whole series of? You got it: MEETINGS!

Image: http://www.yavel.com/always/images/hp_dilbert.jpg

Let’s have a party.

What is WRONG with this damn weather?
In San Diego last week several locals told me that they had never seen such weird weather. Seasons seemingly switched: rain when it should be dry; dry when it should be wet; bleak and cool when it should be a glorious fall. You get the point. Same all over. Raging fires. Endless droughts. Huge storm systems.
I can’t wait to see what this winter will bring here in the VERY SUNNY SOUTH. Hasn’t rained in weeks and I am watering more than ever before just to keep things from dying. More water evaporating from the ponds than ever before. Damn weather. Weird weather. Ooops. Could we be in a “weather weirding” cycle predicted by the global climate change morons? You know, the ones Fox news says are crazy and have no scientific evidence of change? Hell, who needs science? Just look out the window or listen to the news (even Fox reports on the never-before-seen floods, droughts, fires, famines etc.) Oh, I get it! This is all NATURAL! No connection at all to the massive destruction of the world’s forests, the acidification of the ocean or the gigantic load of carbon dioxide added each minute to the atmosphere. NATURAL. Whew. Now I feel so much better.
Just sitting here waiting to go to a meeting organizing a group that is trying to get Thomasville to set aside forever a beautiful 200+/- acre forest. We need another industrial park like I need another dog. Have to wonder though: with the climate in the South getting progressively warmer earlier and staying warmer later if the forest will not change itself. The answer is “of course it will”. So why bother saving it? I agree it is probably just a “finger in the dike”. But why not try to keep what we have a little longer? Why not try to stave off the inevitable. Why not go down fighting? We are in the process of conquering nature.
Let’s have a party.
Image: http://users.skynet.be/oakcity/2006/CD/CD1.jpg

Ishmael

The certainty of the extinction of any species that overcomes the rules governing the steady-state of population and adopts as its goal the conquest of nature and the ever-expansion of its population is set.Nothing new here, but elegant in its presentation. Malthus said it. Ehrlich warned about it. Futurists have known about it for a long time, but mostly don’t see the inevitability of the end of the story. The key word is “certainty”. It is time to stop smelling the roses and realize that the ultimate end of human kind who have left nature behind is extinction. Period. There is no coming back from this. There is only heartbreak. Sustainability is a worthy goal that cannot succeed in a world obsessed with growth.
Is it possible for the others, those that are in sync with nature to survive? Absolutely. If there is a world left that they can live in harmony with. That is the rub. When the Takers fall, and they will fall, will they “Take” the Leavers with them or leave them behind? Don’t know. Hope so. It will be a very tough world to live in.
Image: http://www.roumazeilles.net/news/fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/gorilla.JPG
Ishmael: Novel by Daniel Quinn

San Diego: Land of Good.

San Diego. The land of good beer, good food and good times, the USS Midway, California girls but no sunshine. None. Never saw it. So much for “sunny California”. Smog yes. Sun, no.

We were driving up historic US highway 101 on the way to a couple of breweries (where else) when I suddenly noticed that all the people were “bobbling” on the sides of the road. Up and down, up and down. Everybody was a bobble doll. Then it struck me. They were all jogging. Whew, I thought. Then I noticed that they were all young. The percentage of obviously older people was almost zero. One crossed the street in from of me and I though “I should run him over to put him out of his misery”. I didn’t though. And the surf. Dozens maybe hundreds of bobbling torsos on surfboards just gently rocking in the water. Up and down. Up and down. No waves, just gentle small swells. At first I thought they were seals. But they were surfers with no surf.

So what did I learn in San Diego? Everybody jogs on Saturday or rides a bike in very colorful costumes or floats on the calm ocean. That everybody who isn’t jogging, biking or “surfing” is driving on the freeways. That they either eat there seniors or ban them from the streets. That there are more world class microbreweries per square mile than anywhere I have ever been. That there is great Chinese (the goose intestines were particularly alluring) and good Mexican food. That the USS Midway is there and is a National Treasure to be enjoyed by all. And that you can’t prove it by me that the sun ever shines in Southern California. Can’t wait to go back. Seriously.

Image: http://californiadaytrips.blogspot.com/2008/08/kiss-statue-uss-midway-in-san-diego.html

India Pale Ale and the Afterlife

This is an ale made with lots of hops, Humulus lupulus (1), used to impart a bitterness and/or a “hoppy” aroma to the brew depending on the variety. Hops is also an important stabilizer and acts as a preservative for long-term storage. By the mid fifteen hundreds the British were using hops to improve the shelf life of ales, and when the empire expanded into the tropical parts of the globe, hoppy ale was brewed to survive the long sea voyage to the destination ports of India and other places.
In the early 1800’s, a particularly strong hoppy ale was brewed and it was called India Pale Ale or just IPA(2). The combination of the malt, hops and other ingredients varied by brewer, but a steady feature was the very strong bitter flavor indicating more than the usual amount of hops. The high amount of hops used to brew IPA assured that it would survive the long and rough ride to India.
Today this style of brewing is gaining favor all over America, even as it wanes in Brittan. Most small breweries create their own versions, and competition for medals is fierce. IPA is my favorite brew.
So, having sampled no less than 9 different IPA’s in 4 days in San Diego, it came to me last night that the perfect solution to being deprived of IPA after death was obvious: Find a funeral home that would agree to embalm me with a good strong double IPA like Strauss’s “Big Barrel Double IPA” (3). Finding a director with a love for good beer shouldn’t be a problem. The problem would be getting the smile off my face.

Image: http://www.karlstrauss.com/index2.html
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pale_Ale
3. http://www.karlstrauss.com/index2.html

Come out, Come out, Whoever You Are!!

Coming out day. Today and I almost missed it. I have had a few friends and my son come out to me, and it is a real honor and privilege. It says “I trust you. I value you. I open myself to you in a way that scares the hell out of me”. Thanks for your trust. I will do my best never to betray it. If I could come out, it would be to one of you. I love you all.

Image: http://lgbtq.uchicago.edu/images/outoberweblogo.jpg

ZADARUM

There is a well know phenomena to do with giving up. Take a rat and throw it into a tub of water and it swims and tries to climb out until exhausted and then it sinks and drowns. Hold a rat tightly until it stops struggling and place it in the tub and even though it is not in the least exhausted it sinks and drowns. No struggle. Why? It has been conditioned to understand that struggle will not free it from its circumstance.
I am beginning to feel like the second rat. Not constrained by force, but by sheer stupidity and apathy. This week: “I am not voting this time because Hillary isn’t there.” “I’m voting Republican this time because I won’t get a COLA in my Social Security check next year.” “I’m not voting in this election because the Democrats bailed out the banks and auto industry, and the stimulus hasn’t worked.” “I thought the Democrats would fix the economy. They didn’t so let’s let the Republicans try it.” “We need a party in there that will cut taxes and put more money in my pocket.”
I get so tired of thoughtless morons who think one vote will fix the world. Or that the party that screwed up the dream will somehow dream it again. Years ago I learned a Ukrainian word that defies translation, but means something like “give it up - - - there is no point”. I can’t find it in any on line dictionary so maybe it didn’t exist. It does now. “Zadarum”.

Image: http://www.erichufschmid.net/Piper/HelpUsDrownTheRats.JPG