Crazy for You

And what was it that we were meeting here to talk about. Remember my scheme to use the talents of the Little People. I was going to figure out a way to employ their ability to read minds and overhear conversations. I was looking for some way to employ them to solve mysteries. This concern with terrorist (the War on Terrorism as President Bush labeled it and to which Congress gave its rubber stamp). That seemed like a good place to employ the Little People, not that Homeland Security was clamoring for their assistance. Homeland Security seemed to be quiet happy preventing imaginary plots (or fomenting plots that they could the thwart). They were kept busy imagining things that didn’t happen and quite happy putting into effect policies that nothing imaginary might be imagined and if it were imagined that it stay imaginary. And since when did the police tolerate outside interference. No I needed first to work out our tactics. Then we would look out for some opportunity to use them. Something that didn’t involve public authorities (or the Internet or the telephone for that matter). First we would try a simple case of tailing someone. Say someone here in this bar. “Got any idea boys? Are you picking up on any evil or crazy thoughts in here? Is there someone who could lead us on a merry chase?” Maybe later we try a case of what is called a ‘domestic situation’ – the bread and butter of the private detective.

A sane man who by pretending to be a lunatic, has done as he pleased and escaped punishment, he had a joke – if you wanted to call it that – on the world. But if he was a lunatic, who ignorant of his craziness, thought he was pretending to be a lunatic, then the joke – if you wanted to call it that – was on him – Dashiell Hammett – The Dain Curse

Am I crazy or what

But everything makes sense

When your crazy

            Nothing makes any sense

And this all makes sense

            Or at least I think it makes sense

And when you are really crazy

            You thing it all makes sense

And I think this makes sense

            But I’m not really sure

Uncertainty is a sign of sanity

            Are you sure that you not sure?

Does it make any sense

            Any sense at all

            This is noting

And nothing makes

            It nonsense

And there is no sense

            In nonsense

“What do you think

Does this make any sense?”

“Me? I’m not so sure

            That’s why I’m asking

You”. And you say, “I’m sure

            That your crazy”:

“Crazy for you”, I tell her.

“That would defiantly make

            Your crazy,” she replied

Preventable yes, most things (those that are anthropocentric at least) are preventable, if acted upon before their onset. After it has happened nothing can be done except for some type of mitigation. What is the chance that it will happen – a million to one. What is the chance that it did happen – One hundred percent. It did happen and there is no denying that. Odds are only applicable before an event. The event itself resets the odds. The event is a threshold. What is the chance of an intelligent lifeform springing up spontaneously – we don’t know. What are the odds of an intelligent lifeform – 100% (we are witnesses to it – assuming of course that humans are intelligent, and that is not a given). What are the chances of an asteroid hitting the earth – a million to one. What are the chances of an asteroid having hit the earth - 100%.

Today, it is those most sheltered from actual state violence – from day-to-day reality of police brutality – who also feel most threatened by the state, most free to threaten violence against hypothetical violations, and most entitled to opt out of civil discourse… Our racist double standards for who can safely gesture at political violence are enormous – Patrick Blanchfiled – The New York Times

While there is zero tolerance for petty thieves there is infinite tolerance for the crimes of bankers

When someone is disloyal to you, they never forgive you for having failed you…, the greater the offence committed by the betrayed, the greater the traitor’s sense of grievance  – Javier Marias – Fever and Spear, 2007 p379

Plip plop the rain begins. I had been expecting it since early morning. Everybody was taking of the coming rain. I asked the ranger what kind of storm was expected. Is it supposed to be bad? We had been talking of trees and they were cutting several down. Just don’t park under one with a lot of dead branches. No, just a gentle rain, he said. I had heard that green wood was more dangerous that dead wood. When they are leafed out they can be, he said. They were only beginning to leaf at this time. There is no danger now. I’ve seen a lot of green ones go down. There is really no place safe to be. In the summer everything is green. In the winter everything looks dead. If you’re going to be out here you’ll have to take your chances. There is no safe house in the woods.

I against my brother / I and my brother against our cousin / I, my brother and our cousin against the neighbor / All of us against the foreigner – Bedouin proverb

A goose flapped its way into the fork of a dead tree about thirty feet above the ground. I had never seen a goose sitting in a tree. There are a lot of woodpeckers about but not much of a chance catching them napping out on the lake. The mate of the first goose (the one sitting in the tree) makes an effort to join it on it’s perch. It’s a small notch. The notch is not big enough for two big birds. They would first have had to construct an edifice of sticks like a stork. That would have worked. But they do not construct nests, maybe in the reeds but not in trees. The second one knocked the first one out as it landed on the perch. There is a lot of flapping and honking but only the second one now sits in the notch of the dead tree. Tammy and John walk over to my campsite. They are having a fish fry tonight. Some guest will be coming over. They invite me to join them. I offer to help but Tammy says that John is the chef. I offer to clean up. No, they say just come over and eat. I will, I promise them. I’d seen him using a Dutch oven earlier. Yeah, we both like campfire cooking. Thanks, I said. We’ll call you when its ready, John  said. The first goose is now trying to join its mate up in the notch of the dead tree. Flap, flap flap – honk, honk – it circles around again and lands. It tries once more and fails. They both fly off and land on the lake.

Distance invokes many ghosts. Loneliness does too. And ignorance even more – Javier Marias – Fever and Spear, 2007 p384