One dollar buys 1,200 calories of potato chips and cookies
and only 750 calories of whole foods such as carrots. It will purchase 850
calories of soda but only 170 calories
of fruit juice from concentrate.
It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on
walks – Anatole France
Almost a fifth of all American meals are consumed in an
automobile.
MacDonald’s serves a kind of comfort food, but after a
few bites I’m more inclined to think
they’re selling something more schematic than that – something more like a
signifier of comfort food. So you eat more and eat more quickly, hoping somehow
to catch up to the original idea of a cheeseburger or French fry as it retreats
over the horizon. And so it goes, bite after bite, until you feel not satisfied
exactly, but simply, regrettably, full – Michael Pollen – The Omnivore’s
Dilemma, 2007 p124
A one pound package of prewashed lettuce leaves contains
about 80 calories of food but it took 4,600 calories to get it to your salad
plate
I’m going on a bike ride
I can go anywhere, anywhere
So long as
the sun shines
Maybe I’ll see you, Baby
I’ll see
you somewhere
Going on a bike ride, bike ride
In the
sunshine, sunshine
Bicycle wheels go round and round
And the trees go bye and bye
Together we wander on
The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court declares that
First Amendment rights only apply to Christians because “Buddha didn’t create
us, Mohammad didn’t create us, it was the God of the Holy Scripture” that
created us. Wait a minute, is he saying that the gods create their believers or
in the case of Buddha and Mohammad each prophet. Who created the aethiests – Karl Marx? Jesus must
have created the Christians for otherwise Jews also would have First amendment
rights. He got that one wrong. God
created the Jews and Jesus created the Christians. It’s all such a illogical
mishmash and he is supposed to be a judge? God help the poor Alabamians. And
what exactly is the connection between being created by the Biblical God and the
Constitution? Is there something in the Constitution that saws that it does
not apply to non-Christians and is it only the First Amendment to which this
doctrine applies?
What a woman
Leaves
behind
Is her
scent
She selects her
Mate
Based on her
Nose
His nose only comes
Into play
Afterwards
And it
lasts
And
lasts
The rest of his life
She’s indifferent
He’s done
his part
Sensual qualities are
Irrelevant
Now
Only genetic compatibility
Matters
For her
choice
But not for him
Now she can’t remember
Anything
about him
Other than his anger
He’s still shopping around
Trying to
match up
Her scent
It’s all he has
Child birth related death has dropped by 3.1% in the
developed world since 2003, but has increased 1.7% in the US during the same
period. The US rate is more than triple that of the UK.
Everyday language is a forgotten and therefore used-up poem
– Martin Heidegger, ‘Language’
The US with only 5% of the world’s population consumes 75%
of the world’s prescription drugs
To simplify one’s life! It seems the most natural thing in
the world to undertake, yet it’s just about the most difficult – Henry Miller –
Big Sur and The Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, 1957 p263
US golfers played the fewest number of rounds since 1995
last year, playing a total of 462 million. More golf courses have closed than
opened for the last eight years. Last year 14 18-hole courses opened and 158
closed. Of the closures 97% were public courses.
Everything that comes about
Is a fulfillment
Some prophesy foretold
All though many predict
Few
foretell
Hindsight is totally
In the know
The good life is the holy life. (Wholly living, wholly
dying). It is the kind of life in which you do your utmost everyday, not for
art, not for country, not for family, not for yourself even, but because it’s
the ‘only’ thing to do – Henry Miller – Big Sur and The Oranges of Hieronymus
Bosch, 1957 p193
And so I said to the Little People we shall follow the next
person who walks in that door. I saw a head nod. We are on. What one agrees to
there all agree to. They don’t have to vote on it – they share thoughts,
feelings and emotions (although I’m not sure that they have emotions). I don’t
think they feel pain either. Dealing with the Little People is a lot like
dealing with the government except that you aren’t put on hold and have to
listen to crappy music for an unspecified period of time (usually stated as
being 10-15 minutes but usually until you give up) to able to talk to a real
person. The half a dozen options are useless. Maybe they might have been useful
if you could have figured out what they were for. Either that or run the
security gauntlet and have to site in butt aching chairs only to find out
your’re at the wrong window. But I’ve gotten sidetracked. I do that a lot. Then
Charlie walked in. He was one of the regulars. He slid onto a stroll at the bar.
Harold got up and walked to the other end. Harold couldn’t stand Charlie. And I
said to the Little People. No not Charlie, he’ll be in here crying in his beer
until they kick him out. And he don’t have any thoughts that need interpretation. And when they kick him out he’ll just go back to his SRO and
pass out. No we won’t follow Charlie. Then a man and woman walk in. Tourists
types. They’ll do I said. Can you tell me anything about them, I asked the
Little People?
Knowledge is a post card
Which in
itself is
Not
knowledge
But a mere
commodity
Choose among them
Turn the
rack
Read
it
Does it say
What you want it
To say?
No
Choose
another
And I base this
On the ones
That
I’ve
received
Send me another one
The great hoax which we are perpetuating every day of our
lives is that we are making life easier, more comfortable, more enjoyable, more
profitable. We are doing just the contrary. We are making life stale, flat, and
unprofitable every day in every way. One ugly word covers it all: waste. Our
thoughts, our energies, our very life are being used up to create what is
unwise, unnecessary, unhealthy – Henry Miller – Big Sur and The Oranges of
Hieronymus Bosch, 1957 p218
Recreation: to assembly a bunch of consumer goods for
personal use and transport them to a site distant from one’s residence over the
weekend
Of all the degrees, ‘Doctor of Divinity’ would have suited
him [Jesus] least – Henry Miller – Big Sur and The Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch,
1957 -p263
