Day 14 - Posted at the home of my sister in Jackson Tennessee

My battery gave out. I ordered a new one but even though it was labeled for my computer it was not the right one. Now I'm on the road with the little dog and get delivery of a new one so until I find a store that stocks the one I need I'll have be looking for libraries that will let me sign on without a library card - so expect my postings to be intermittent and short. I'm in Jackson TN. The little dog has a new moniker - he is not officially Trail Dog (TD for short). It took us two weeks to get this far - camping out and driving a little every other day. The weather has been misserable - this was the third good day (the first day and other about 5 days ago) - otherwise it has been cold and wet. The trees are starting to leaf.  Oh yes, TD - he has taken to the great outadoors - he leads the way - and when he veers off the trail - I holler "Hold up Trail Dog! This a way" and I point. He retraces his path and heads off in the right direction. I am still buildin up my stamena - up to about 4 miles now and still have not worn him out. "Oh what a curte little dog you got there. Aren't you fellow. What kind of dog is it." When I say Yorkie, they laugh. "That's not a Yorkie" I am told. Best I can figure out he is a mix of Shitzsu and Pekinese. The looks of a Shitzsu and the disposition of a Peninese. "No Trail Dog, this way" and I point and off he goes to the length of his leash. For a lap dog he does pretty good in the woods. So am I so far.

A bankrupt state (California) is spending a quarter of a million dollars to incarcerate a man for stealing $3.99 worth of shredded cheese. He was lucky he could have received a life sentence instead of the eight years that he got. That kind of mentallity is what makes a state bankrupt in the first place.

A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind – J M Keynes

No lingering moods
And advantage
      With amnesia
As with love
And just as easily
       Exploitable
And just as much
       At a loss

That was when the ones that smiled / Were the dead, glad to be at rest – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p386

Men and women in the US who co-habitate have a 51% of marrying within three years and a 65% chance within five years. Two-thirds of US marriages last at least 10 years. Couples with children have an 80% chance of staying married for at least 10 years. For women (but not for men) coming from an intact family increased the likelihood of their staying married for at least 10 years.

The abundance of solutions to the aspect of existence is equaled only by their futility – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p6

Walter has a version of the history of the corndog that he had just downloaded from the Internet. “There is also the version that the corndog was invented by Moses”, he says. The version that he has in hand gives 1946 as the date for the introduction of the ‘Crusty Cur’. He says that he knows for a fact that it was invented at the Cotton Bowl in 1941. “What the Crusty Cur”, I ask? “No”, he replies, “ the corn do The pig in a blanket. A poodle in a sleeping bag”. I pick up the line – “an elephant in ….” “We are not going there, Walter warned me. And I had wanted to say “… in pantyhose.” Walter corrects himself and says that it was at the Texas State Fair rather than the Cotton Bowl. “But aren’t they the same, like a Frigidair is a refirigerator?”

Restraint. Extravagance. I liked / how one could unshackle the other, / that they might become indivisible – Stephen Dunn – What Goes On, 2009 p20

And another thing he added – “you need to add variety to those ‘he said, she said” phrases that you always write. You need to say ‘he goes” then “she goes” then “I go” - that way you can keep the attention of the younger crowd longer. “I have had this same concern”, I went. “I need to consult the thesaurus for more alternatives for ‘said’ (acquiesces, bemoaned, wagered…). And he goes, “Roget”? “Yes” I belabor.

Turn to poetry. It is, like life, the excuse of ‘proving’ nothing – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p18

I’m weeding out my non-wrinkle free dress shirts. I wash them and only partially dry them. Then I hang them in the closet and see which ones will pass muster. I have stopped using the dry cleaners for shirts and I don’t trust the labels – wrinkle free – it’s not necessary true for frequently laundered garments. St Bridget’s second grade is off to see the mayor today. They are all in their school uniforms and got on the bus as a group but had to scamper for empty seats on the crowded bus. The crazy lady in front of me is going on about tomatoes and her old uncle Charlie. A young bearded teacher checks to see that no one has been left behind, neither student (easily sported) nor accompanying adults not easily distinguishable except from the crazy lady in front of me. I said, then he said, and I replied. She didn’t say anything. That’s unusual, I said. He said he though that it was also. Later she said something but I wasn’t listening. What did you say, I asked her? You wasn’t listening, were you, she said to me, No, I said. And she didn’t say anything more.

Disgusting zones, disgusting moments are the strategic entry points of the beautiful body’s construction - registered, on the criminal index of aesthetics as ‘disgusting’ – Winifried Menninghaus – Disgust: theory and history of a strong emotion, 2003

Disgust is negative laughter

The sweetbriar smelled so sweet / That it even turned into words – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p460

An estimated 250,000 water mains break each year in the United States

The universe transformed into a Sunday afternoon… it is the very definition of ennui, the end of the universe – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p22

Chance of a pedestrian dying after being hit by a car – depending on speed of the vehicle
         Speed (MPH) % of deaths
            20            5
            30            45
            40            85

Every absolute – personal or abstract – is a way of avoiding the problems, and not only the problems, but also their root, which is nothing but a panic of the senses – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p10

It’s getting warmer but there is still frost on the windshield in the morning and there are still patches of snow that haven’t yet melted. This was the winter that proved that global warming was a hoax – or at least it did for those who confuse weather with climate. Wait a minuite - I’ve got to go online now and get today’s climate report and the long-term forecast for the Twenty-second and the Twenty-third centuries – gradual warming with flooding and desertification - man’s extinction eminent.

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

The good news is that the more intelligent a man is the more faithful he will be to his spouse. This is not true of women – they tend to be more faithful anyway and their level of  intelligence doesn’t seem to make any difference. Now for the bad news – intelligent people (both men and women) are less likely to hold true to ‘family values’ (they tend to be more godless and to be more communitarian – i.e. they are more likely than less intelligent people to be liberal atheists – God forbid!). But for you adulterous God-fearing ignorant conservatives (I would have written adulterous God-fearing ingnorant conservative sons-of-a bitches - but as I said the promiscousness of women is not correlated with their intelligence)  there is hope – they don’t breed any faster than you do so you still have a chance. You can lock them up (but can't kill them before they are born) as fast as they arrive as God intended that you do - millions for prisons and not one penny on health for that is socialism (and are not prisons socialized housing?)

Today even the dead have agreed to come, / And the exiles are in my home. / You are leading the child to me by the hand, / I have longed for him so – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992a p271

We see them as they are
      Crippled and bent double
Then we shall see them as they were
       At their best, erect
Full of desire with dark hair
And when we tell our stories
       Some of them shall be omitted
As for me will you be just as kind

Take pity on the sorrowful and weary one… / Oblivion of pain and oblivion of bless - / To give up live for this is no small thing – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p297

What note sounds like red?
Why is the key of D colored blue?

There was no temptation. Temptation lives in silence, / It torments anchorites, oppresses saints – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p295

The fat man who is sitting just outside this door owns all the sidewalk and part of the street. He has a booming voice. His constant monologues sometimes produce dialogs, but only for an angry moment. He wears his blue baseball cap Latino working class style - bill forward. He eyes are ominvorant. He watches each pedestrian pass by. He doesn’t always have an interjection to interrupt their perambulations. It is a warm Sunday night. He hollers at passing cars. He waves off all his the other local crazies who have been attracted by his magnetic glow with a swish of his hand.

So a bear also has to have a lot of body hair?. I just thought that they had to have big bushy beards. You learn something new everyday. That’s what keeps you coming back - time after time - again and again. Metaphors are a swim in my head – barefooted excursions into the farm pasture as a kid, working on Fortune 500 mergers. It squishes between your toes and is still warm. The smaller the pie the more bitter the fight.

Reason does not seem up to the task of suppressing the desire for revenge - –Williard Gaylin – The Perversion of Autonomy: coercion and constraints in a liberal society, 2003

I am a stranger in a familiar place. I walk into my former office - "Well if it isn’t Fred Stair". "Can you transfer some files of me?"  After you have turned your property in no one gives a damn. "Do you have an appointment?" " What is it? I’m busy."  What did I expect. I’m a nobody now. I can cause them no grief. Business relationships are predicated on future returns or avoidence of risk at least - a quid pro quo - no quid no quo - nada - nothing. Oh yes they remember your name. They smile. But you are not relevant. Oh well, I guess I would have acted the same in these circumstances. So now I make a 3PM appointment.  I get my benefits package. I still need to turn in my most recent expense account.

I grant you pardon [Louis XV to Chardais, who to divert himself had just killed a man], but I also pardon whoever will kill you - Louis XV

She wears white satin pants that are a little soiled. She shouldn’t wear white for I can tell that she is no virgin. Who wants to plow this ground? She’s a transsexual with a tiny little ass and big fake tits. She speaks Spanish. Oh, my Chiquita you gotta little banana! The male belly button is not erotic. That fold of flesh just below it will bloat but it will never swell. She’s getting bitched out by a scrawny little blond with glasses and a bad disposition. An oversized coat and tennis shoes makes her movements rather jerky. She does not walk with any fluidity and her appearance does not demand it. Food calms the passions except for sex of which it is a metaphor. She is busy eating. Her temper has subsided. She is subdued. I go back to reading my book.

I was never dear to you, / You disgust me. But the torment drags on, / And love, like a criminal, / Languishes, brimming with evil – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992a p283

Natural-process – a belief in its reality has no bearing on its reality – example: global warming
Social-process – belief has everything to do with reality – example: money

It is taxation that monetarizes the economy; it is taxation that creates money, and it necessarily creates it in motion, in circulation, with turnovers, and also in a correspondence with services and goods in the current of that circulation – Gilles Deleuze

Living the useful life
     Full of activity
     With hustle and bustle
What vitality I see
Hither and thither
      In go-go boots
Patati Patata all
      Downtown
      Until the dawn
Ahead of the times
     Reading all of the headlines
      In the swim of the stream
Forever on the move
      Big fish eat the little fish
This restless history
      Waits on no one
With its hysterically voracious
      Appetite

In itself, every idea is neutral, or should be; but man animates ideas, projects his flames and flaws into them; impure, transformed into beliefs, ideas take their place in time, take shape as events - E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p3

It is estimated that about 50 percent of the children born blind or blinded in infancy have absolute pitch which in the general population only occurs in one in ten thousand.

Once man loses his ‘faculty of indifference’ he becomes a potential murderer; once he transforms ‘his’ idea into a god the consequences are incalculable – E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p3

What is one in ten thousand
       More or less
A special qualia
Associating colors
       With names
And doing it with
       The ears
A realm of precept
       Without relevance
An isolated ability
With what rhyme
       And without reason

Only the skeptics (or idlers or aesthetes) escape because they ‘propose’ nothing, because they – humanity’s true benefactors – undermine fanaticism’s purpose, analyze its frenzy - E M Cioran – A Short History of Decay, 1975 p4

Yes, why doesn’t the government beta-test its new programs like software developers. Although I’ll admit that Microsoft is not very good at it. California’s Prop 15 proposes to do just that. It’s Fair Election imitative will only apply to one office – the Secretary of State – and for only two election cycles. After that it will be sundowner unless extended by the voters. What a good idea to let the people decide if they like the idea. And what a great concept to let them experience it in action rather than having it poked at them in soundbytes. Like the Gladiators in the arena – they can give it thumbs up or thumbs down – both only after they have seen it in action.

Tea-baggers are slurping it up, but they probably aren’t aware exactly what it is they’re slurping… preaching free-market ideas to the masses while profiting off taxpayer money… She stood in judgement before the Invisible Hand, got an invisible thumbs down and bee lined it straight to Uncle Sam for a loan guarantee – Yasha Levine

Each year 64 millions prescriptions for anti-depressants are written in the US. Sales total $9.6 billion. One in ten Americans are taking these anti-depressants. Are Americans crazy? Or are they just trying to cope with a crazy world? Without drugs would our culture fall down like a house of cards? Are these questions worth asking – oh just shut up and take your meds. Is it really important to put on a smiley face when you get out of bed? God, if I had to do that before I could get up, I’d never get up – and that my friend, is the definition of depression. Hell, just give me some more of these – I need to get my prescription renewed.

Why is it that here in the United States we have such difficulty even ‘imagining’ a different sort of society from the one whose dysfunctions and inequalities trouble us so? – Tony Judt – New York Review of Books (12/17/09) p86

All powerful government trumps big government
Spend and don’t tax vs spend and tax
What are the options – are the loonies
     Really in charge
Bush league big government hypocrites
Radical outsiders with big business connections
     Big government and big business are synonymous
Hoping to tap into corporate cash
It’s everyone’s get rich quick scheme
      Milking the taxpayer all the way home
      Crying – wee wee wee –
Get government off my back

I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth – Theodore Roosevelt

By 1970 only 23 countries had abolished the death penalty, today 141 nations have done so. Last year 2,390 individuals were judicially executed. The countries leading the death hit parade are:
         China          1,718
         Iran             346
         Saudi Arabia     102
         United States     37
         Pakistan          36
         Iraq              34
         Vietnam           19
         Afghanistan       17
         North Korea       15
         Japan             15

A bitter new shirt / For my beloved I sewed. / The Russian earth loves, loves / Droplets of blood – Anna Akhmatova – The Complete Poems, 1992 p288