The Time of Hissing Cobras

Another woman has given up her crusade – has given up trying to make me her man. I’m not responding, yielding to her wiles. A woman on the hunt frightens me. They are single minded. Anyway I’m a rolling stone. Nothing to catch onto, grab hold of. It’s not worth all the effort. Cut your loses and run. She is making a speech, talking to Big Al about how she wants to find a man – not necessarily some one  who is rich or someone  who is good looking either she says, but at least someone who is happy, pleasant to be around – no more angry men, she proclaims. She started by asking Al if he knew of any places in town that were for rent, preferably with a fireplace. It would be ok she had said if it snowed, she could stay inside and read if only she had a fireplace. She makes sure that I overhear, but I let her ship sail out of port without any protest. It is  only a smudge of smoke on the horizon by now. I’m a one-eyed Jack. No exclusive relationship here: no possession, no jealousy, no scenes – if you exclude this one. The next morning she comes in and sits down at my table in the coffeeshop, “You’re my friend right?” “Yes,” I replied.

A person never finds himself a total coward, because if something frightens him he runs just far enough away to consider himself a hero again – Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities, 1956 p1165

The is a one in three chances that the CEO of a corporation has a ‘friend’ on the compensation committee

Time for cobras to hiss on the upper most levels, / for the nettle to jostle the patios and roof-gardens, / for the jungle lianas that follow the rifles - / soon, soon enough, ever so soon. / Woe to you, Wall Street – Fedrico Garcia Lorca –Poet in New York, 1955 p35

Cassio said “Do you think that I am drunk, gentlemen. I am drunk. This is my right hand” he said as he held aloft his left, hand “and this is also my left hand” as he pointed to his left hand which he was still holding aloft.

Closing the gap between art and life destroys art and, at the same time, universalizes it – Fedrico Garcia Lorca –Poet in New York, 1955 p30

Dusty closets

            And bottomless drawers

They are purgatories

Objects find their way there

            Assigned a temporary

            Intermediary status

All but forgotten until the onset

            Of spring cleaning

The project of creating in a secular culture an institution that can manifest a dark hidden reality is a contradiction in terms – Susan Sontag – Under the Sign of Saturn, 1980 p51

Thirteen percent of Americans consider themselves part of the top 1%; 28% of Hispanics consider themselves a member of the 1%

The unconditional character of faith, and the problematic character of thinking are two spheres separated by an abyss – Martin Heidegger – What is Called Thinking?, 1968, p177

Virgin Galactic has sold almost 500 tickets for spaceflights

Americans seek escape from the insoluble by pretending that it is solved – H L Mencken – The Vintage Mencken, 1990 p37

The pink haired lady had her backside covered in tattoos or at least that portion that I could see. She was providing a detailed narrative of its geography to her companion – giving a layout of her topography. As I walk the beach”, she was saying, “I want….” – she launched into a surrealistic story that made some sense to her if not to anyone else. All I saw was a hodgepodge of designs without theme or coordination, but to her there was a mystical story behind it all.  Not even the colors of the inks matched. It didn’t make any sense to me. Everything has its history. Every blotch of ink had meaning to her. She ate and talked and he nodded and then they got up and left. Three empty plates and a bowl with three bits of chili in the bottom lay on the empty table. Not everything is worth the effort. Although her big feet gave her a limited charm for me. Now she is gone.

The poet does not explain reality but reacts to it – Ben Belitt – Introduction to “Poet in New York’ by Lorca

Five US colleges offer courses in unmanned-drone operation

Ours is the era of the ballot… We are living in an unphilosophical, dispirited age; it doesn’t have the courage to decide what is valuable and what isn’t, and democracy means, expressed most succinctly: Do Whatever is Happening! – Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities, 1956 p905

There were almost 12,000 weapons confiscated last year from visitors to the Statue of Liberty

Evil is carried out with zest and imagination while good is distinguished by an unmistakable dreariness and dearth of feeling – Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities, 1956 p893

There is a 75% chance that that bottle of  top-brand imported extra-virgin olive oil you bought is not actually extra-virgin

He can never, of course, deceive her [his wife] utterly, but if he is skillful he may at least deceive her enough to make her happy – H L Mencken – The Vintage Mencken, 1990 p70

One in three Americans young people (below the age of 23) have been arrested for something more serious than a traffic violation. In 1965 only one in five had been arrested. Five times as many Americans are now incarcerated than there was in the 1960s.

The course of history was always wasteful and dissipated as if it had been flung on the table by the fist of some low-life gambler –Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities p898

A bureaucrat, any bureaucrat, no bureaucrat, is capable of managing an economic downturn.  They follow rules and procedures. That is what makes them bureaucrats. The rules and procedures that they follow are not long applicable. The rules and procedures are for a no longer existing reality. Yesterday’s solutions are today’s problems. They listen to experts. Experts repeat the lessons they have learned. They learned their lessons in an environment that no longer exist. Now they spout just more bad advice. In the end it is trial and error that finally works. The solution depends on someone who is willing to be wrong. We need one set of bureaucrats and experts for good times and another for bad times.

When one believes that one is living in a very important, very splendid, and very great period, one does not welcome the idea that anything especially important, splendid, and great has yet to happen in it – Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities, 1956 p1088

In an environment of crude violence and terror – it is muscle power alone that has any value – anyone without a gun is a member of the lumbenproletariat. It’s his value as labor that matters, unless they have a craft - pound out shackles, build stockades.

He loved books – and books were not a barrier between him and life – Vasily Grossman – The Road, 2010 p84

When push comes to shove, pushing and shoving is all that counts

Everyone’s entitled to his opinion, but the only opinions that count are the ones that enable you to earn a living, because that means that other people appreciate your opinions too! – Robert Musil – The Man Without Qualities, 1956 p1095

In reality the daemons and the angels of our fantasies have ordinary faces. Plain, ordinary faces

Men live for the day, men live very fast – men live irresponsibly: precisely this is called ‘freedom’ – F Neitzsche – Thus Spoke Zarathustra