Once [he] had wondered how to pronounce parentheses. Years ago he’d given up and now said them as if the first were a hyphen and the second not there – Samuel R Delany – Dark Reflections, 2007 p17
Voters do not deserve very high reputations as policy wonks, not nearly as much as political analysts tend to attribute to them. But they do have a basic instinct that allows them to intuitively pursue their own long-term self-interests. Policy wonks never look beyond their own asses. Their self-interest is to meet the next filing deadline.
In this Peep age of cyber gossip, truth is determined not by one’s ability to trace a story back to a reputable source, but by how many people indicate interest through linking, down loading, sharing, and otherwise participation in the narrative – Ned Niedziecki – The Peep Diaries, 2009
Chick flick – she meets handsome rich man
She falls in love with same
There are difficulties
Their hearts go
Pitter-pat
He sees the light
She is worth the sacrifice
He straightens out his life
They live happily ever after
In a white house with green grass
And two and a half kids
Color not specific (in the latest release
at least)
The End
There are true answers that are so misleading that one is never the less tempted to call them lies, and there is that protracted silence in the face of questions that even in the absence of an answer cannot be considered anything other than deception – Robert C Solomon – Lying and Deception in Everyday Live, “What a Tangled Web”, 1993 p34
First there was talk about peak oil (a time after which demand is greater than production capacity) and now there is talk about peak phosphorus, which is worst. Oil is only needed for energy and there are alternatives. Phosphorus is necessary for life and there are no substitutes. In 2008 prices skyrocketed from $50 to $400 per ton. The two most critical problems for world food supply (other than a growing population and our propensity to use food to produce oil) are water and phosphorus. There have been oil wars and water wars. We have phosphorus wars to look forward to – 75% of world production is concentrated in three countries.
We want the unstated rules that govern traditional community, but we don’t necessarily want those rules to apply to us. This, in many ways, is the conundrum of modern society – Ned Niedziecki – The Peep Diaries, 2009 p149
Towards the final solution
Onwards to the stars
Blue giants and red dwarfs
Frog marched into our camp
Carrying our cardboard suitcases
This is all that belongs to us
How is it that animals / Can save time: / They sleep a whole season / Of lamentation and snow, / Without bothering to weep – James Wright – Collected Poems, 1971 p132
Accidental lies are not really lies – they are just a matter of having been wrong for which one may apologize
This place was not hostile to my presence, far from it. Just entirely, gradelessly, indifferent…. Here there was no question of relation. This place refused any imputation of meaning – Robert Macfarlane – The Wild Places, 2009 p157
55% of all single Americans are not in a committed relationship and are not actively looking for a partner, amongr younger singles the number is lower of course, 38%. 43% of adults claim to be single and 21% are married
Where do couples meet:
At work or at school 38%
Through family or friends 34%
In a social environment 13%
Through the Internet 3%
At church 2%
All travelers to wild places will have felt… a brief blazing perception of the world’s disinterest. In a small measure it exhilarates. But in full form it annihilates – Robert Macfarlane – The Wild Places, 2009 p157
After an honest man’s veracity is called into question, he is justified in lying to his inquisitor
Warren Harding: Yet he was beautiful, he was the snowfall / Turned to white stallions standing still / Under dark elm trees. // He died in public. He claimed the secret right / To be ashamed – James Wright – Collected Poems, 1971 p120
Passenger intercity trips of more than 50 miles BTU/passenger mile
Car 90% 3,500
Air 7% 3,300
Bus 2% 4,235 (urban)
Train 1% 2,600
Motorcycle - 1,855
Walking - 1,050
Bicycle - 183
We’re not afraid of the surveillance state. We’re afraid of the gaps in our culture of surveillance. We’re afraid of the dark spaces where our senses fail us. We fear the moments when unobserved, unrecorded, and un-exhibited, we virtually disappear – Ned Niedziecki – The Peep Diaries, 2009 p208
The homeless man has his arm in a sling. He seems to be in a trance. He reawakens to the world and suddenly says ,“Hi there” to the two women next to where he had been standing. “Can I get some change for a cup of coffee,” he asks them. Now he is asking for a blueberry pastry in addition to the cup of coffee. “Hey Hey, One cup of coffee and that’s it,” Samhae tells him from behind the counter. The man insists that some cocoa also be added to his cup of coffee. He persistently interrupts Samhae twice to insist on it. He gets thrown out.
Mr. Bliss has arrived. He effortlessly comes down California Street and turns left at the corner of Fillmore, he finds the small already open right sided door and enters the coffee shop. His cane tapped a few of the tables on his left as he navigated up next to the potato chip stand. After helping the customers already in line, Samhae says “Good morning Mr. Bliss. Bagel and Coffee?” Mr. Bliss bumps into a seated customer but otherwise confidently strolls back out of the shop and up California St. towards home. Most of us live in a world which to all intents and purposes seems normal - God help us if we don't.
To push beyond the limit is to forever change the assembly. To push the envelope is to expand the boundary lines of the limit.
I got a slight buzz from crossing into forbidden territory. I’m someone who follows the rules – for most of the time. It’s my mathematical upbringing. Mathematics very quickly begins to collapse if one starys outside the logical boundaries permitted by the subject – Marcus du Sautoy – Symmetry, 2008 p84
Capitalism always operates at its limits - what would it cost to step over this line, and it does. Capitalism is the least conservative form of economics that can be imagined, in fact it is revolutionary. It refuses to be guided by rationality. Homo Economicus is not a rational man.
Humanity should be on guard against all generalization of ideas that causes us to loose sight of the facts, and above all against the errors of identifying the public good with wealth, abstracted from the suffering of the human beings who create it – J C L Simonded-Nouveaux – Principles of Economic Critique, 1827
Value is created by increasing the differential between the least productive and the most productive process and/or resource - the least productive porcess has zero value.
Beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell – St Augustine – De Genesi ad Litteram
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