And in books it was the last page / I preferred to all the others - / When the hero and the heroine / Are no longer interesting – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p419
And yes, I got this right too – green fuels have an even more destructive impact on the environment than are do fossil fuels according to a new British government report. Now if someone will just debunk the myth that electric cars are less polluting than are internal combustion driven cars. There is no physical way that energy can be converted that many times and still be efficient. No, if the entire fuel cycle (from extraction to locomotion and disposal of wastes) are accounted for fossil fuel has to be less polluting than electricity. The problem comes when only single segments of the entire cycle are compared – for example tail pipe exhaust. In fact it is a truism that all new technologies have always been more energy intensive than the technologies that they replace. I've gott to stop saying - I told you so! My resolution for 2011 perhaps.
No one achieves frivolity straight off. It is a privilege and an art – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p8
Socialists are claiming that the ‘S-word’ mudslinging of conservatives opposing health care reform (Obama a socialists? - - don’t make me laugh!) is actually bringing new found interest and attention to a cause that had almost gone dormant. The Democratic Socialists of America are crediting this mudslinging to a 60% increase in its membership. National Director of the DSA, Frank Llewellyn stated that they “have had more attention in the last 12 months than in the last 12 years. But most people don’t have a clue what socialism is.” Recent surveys have indicated that among the Millenniums there is a feeling that if capitalism means a broken health care system and socialism means some (any) health care reform then they are for socialism as opposed to capitalism. Is there really any difference between a Big Government program and a Big Corporation program? And does that have anything to do with either capitalism or socialism? And are capitalism and socialism mutually exclusive concepts? Is Capitalism and capitalism the same? Are Socialism and socialism identical? Just another rhetorical war as all of them are. Lakoff is right – politics is all about metaphors.
Liberals, unlike the right wing, are emotionally disabled. They appear not to feel… [the right] articulates a legitimate rage. Yet liberals continue to speak in the bloodless language of issues and policies… The timidity of the left exposes its cowardice, lack of moral compass and mounting political impotence – Chris Hedges
How’s the Syrah? Which one? Sobon. Excellent - dark opaque burgundy, smooth and full - blackberry. There are three woman at one table. There is the bartender and a lone male customer. The bartender and the man at the bar are discussing the spreads - college sports odds. He is also working the bartender for another glass of wine on the house. A balding man in a gray suite comes in and asks for someone. The man he asks for is not working tonight the bartender tells him. . He’s here for the cheese. Someone moved his cheese. One of the women at the table says she will work with the others' closures on January first. She has an MBA She is a national accounts representative…and you too? …Then another suit ambles in and proceeds to the end of the bar. He is discussing the process of placing bets with the bartender then he calls his bookie on his mobile phone. The bartender had told him that “you pay $25 to her. She pays out to four places…but it is being conducted on the CBS site…They like it because it gives them more hits.” The bartender tells him “Someone came in looking for you and I did a Raymond Chandler and said that you were out with a brunette.” “Yep, Doing a brunette both ways”
Punish the man neglectful enough to let himself be robbed but proclaim no kind of penalty against the robber – Marque d’Sade
My friend arrives and asks for an ice water and an espresso. The bartender says that he doesn’t have any espresso. “You did the last time I was here”, Daniel insists. “No we didn’t”, the bartender tells him. “Well, what do you have that is not wine?” “Sodas.” “Anything else.” “Orange juice. Cranberry or Apple.” “I’ll have a cranberry.” Daniel and I had worked together. He left before I did, but I was unable to catch him up on much that he did not already know. He can work a room. He keeps track of former co-workers. We talked of common acquaintances. We had seen a lot of people come and go – his residence had been shorter than mine. “Tell be about your recent marriage?” I asked of him. “She’s Japanese and Filipino”, he says, “with those exotic narrow eyes.” “Exotic,” I remind him, “is whatever you are not accustomed to.” “Well in Italy [he is Italian] they would be exotic,” he replied. More small talk. He says that he has this birthday thing and he asks me what mine was and he writes it down.
I ask how one will be able to demonstrate that in a state rendered immoral by its obligations, it is essential that the individual be moral? – Marque d’Sade
I like to call people on their birthdays, he claims. I take out my phone and check on the time. It’s 6:15. “Yyou need to be somewhere else I can see, we can go our ways”, he suggest without any sarcasm. "Yes", I reply, "I have a 7:30 lecture in Berkeley on Art and Technology. He walks with to me to California St BART station. I turn left and he turns right. I never saw him again. Nor did he call me on my birthday.
What Diogenes was looking for with his lantern was an ‘indifferent man’ – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p5
I am approached by a man with a cane and a sad story. He talks me out of a dollar bill. I ask myself, are they all as pathetic as they claim or are they just good at their occupations? The doubt is enough to persuade you not to feel too good about helping out. It leaves you feeling that you might just only be a good mark. I caught the Richmond train at 6:40 and was exiting at the Berkeley Station by Seven. The lights in downtown Berkeley are out. I take the creek route across campus to the Shafter Gate then up to Kroll Hall from the backside. Berkeley was still blacked out after the lecture got out. The Berkeley Dog was still open – propane lanterns and a gas grill. I had a Calabrase by candlelight. It was an Italian night. The stars were out. I did not have another until I arrived in Rome.
The difference between intelligence and stupidity resides in the manipulation of the adjective, whose use without diversity constitutes banality – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p20
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