Down by the River taking a walk before it gets hot. They are
setting up for a run. Later I go for coffee. This is TD’s big moment. He likes
to piss on all the flower pots on Main Street. Stormy and his boxer pup stop
by. Can’t get used to this humidity, he says. He’s from Oregon (Bend County)
but was raised near Columbia MO. Listening to Captain Beefhear (Trout Replica
Mask) and watching Alice Guy (Falling Leaves). Smoking dope (yes, it all makes sense now). Why couldn't I see this before.
90% of state investment incentive monies are awarded to
large coroporations and hence hurt the competitiveness of small businesses
What is often called ‘American
culture’ is no longer a product of the American people: it is instead an
artificial consumer culture created and projected by corporate advertising and
media….a culture determined by technological and economic forces, rather than
human and ecological needs. - Helena Norberg-Hodge
Whenever prices eclipse 210 on the UN’s FAO Food Index (a
measure of the monthly change in international prices of core food commodities)
riots and conflict became much more likely.
If you want to drop more bombs,
spend more on war, and live in constant fear of the next terrorist attack, that
is your prerogative as a citizen of a free nation — but there is nothing
“conservative” about those who hold these positions and they should not be
described as such. – S M Gibson
The health care cost of dying: dementia - $287.038, heart disease - $175.136,
cancer - $173,383. On average Medicare pays out about $100,000 for patients
with each of these diseases. The average out-of-pocket expense for a dementia
patient is $61,522
The weapons of the strong are
classification, delineation, division. The strong depend on the certainty of
mapping – Tim Cresswell
Fortune 500 companies account for 80% of the $60b in fines
imposed by US federal agencies since 2010. Almost half of the $60b in fines was
the result of BP’s Gulf Coast oilspill. Alpha Natural Resources (a coal mining
company) tops the list in regards to the number of fines with 2,500 violations
and fines of $500m. 40 parent companies have paid out at least $100m in fines.
Can it be that the creative lies not in the
acquired abilities of the ego but in the freedom to let the ego float off like
so much woodsy refuse? – James P Carse
– Breakfast at the Victory, 2004 p148
At least 130 immigrants to New England prior to 1646 had
matriculated at either Oxford or Cambridge Universities. There was at least on
university man for every thirty-two families in New England.
Economics is not just any academic
discipline. It is the theology of our age, the language that all interests,
high and low, must speak if they are to win a respectful hearing in the courts
of power. Economics owes its special position in part to the failure of other
disciplines to impress their stamp on political debate - Robert Skidelsky – How Much is Enough?, 2012
This all makes sense if you’re listening as I am, to Don Van Vliet - click-clack, click-clack -uha, uha, uhoo
You don’t get paid what you are worth, you are worth what
you get paid
Memory loves to go hunting in the
dark – Osip Mandlestram - The Prose of ,
1986 p94
Highly trained Police officers have only an 18% accuracy
rate for hitting their intended target in a live shooting situation.
But how can you talk with a person
if they always say the same thing? - Lewis Carroll
A fourth of working Americans earn less than $20,000/year.
50% earn less than $30,000. 900 individuals earn more that $20,000,000 in
compensation (as reported on their IRS
Form W-2).
The identity I present to the
world is a self to be seen and not the self who sees – James P Carse – Breakfast at the Victory,
2004 p115
Jack Kerouac never learned to drive
Modern life is so thoroughly
mediated by electronic images that we cannot help responding to others as if
their actions – and our own - whether
being recorded and simultaneously transmitted to an unseen audience or stored
up for close scrutiny at some later time – Christopher Lasch
19% of all cancers are caused by tobacco; 3% of all cancers are caused by red or
processed meat. Tobacco causes 86% of all lung cancers. Red or processed meat
causes 21% of all bowel cancers. There is evidence that as little as 100g or red
meat a day will increases the cancer risk by 17%
Private problems do not turn into
public issues by dint of being vented in public; even under public gaze they do
not cease to be private, and what they seem to be accomplishing by being
transferred to the public stage is pushing all other ‘non-private’ problems out
of the public agenda. What are commonly and ever more often perceived as
‘public issues’ are private problems of public figures agenda – Zygmet Bauman – Liquid Modernity,
2000 p70
At least six Americans have been shot by their dog in the
last five years. A third of these incidents happened in Florida. The actual
number of such incidents is probably much higher as only incidents reported in
newspapers have been taken into account. Maybe Floridians just like to read dog
stories.
With all wonder there is a
wonderer – James P Carse – Breakfast at the Victory, 2004 p98
Influenza kills as many as 500,000 people in a normal year
It is only once in a generation
that a people can be lifted above material things. That is why conservative government
is in the saddle two-thirds of the time – Woodrow Wilson
Federal asset forfeiture collections have risen from around
$800 million in 2002 to almost $4.5 billion in 2014.
We cannot allow our economic life to
be controlled by that small group of men whose chief outlook upon the social
welfare is tinctured by the fact that they can make large profits from the
lending of money and the marketing of securities – Franklin D Roosevelt
The residential electricity needed to power our digital
gadgets will rise to 30% of global consumption by 2022, and 45% by 2030.
Personal digital devices currently use 15% of the global residential energy
Many persons left their jobs for the
more profitable one of selling apples – Herbert Hoover
In the US it is estimated that impulsive buying generates
around $4 billion in sales every year. Research suggests that up to 62 percent
of store purchases may be considered impulsive purchases
Some things come too soon and others
come too late, but we only find out when there’s nothing to be done, when we’ve
already bet against ourselves – Alvaro Mutis – The Adventures and Misadventuees
of Maqroll, 2002 p44
British police have fatally shot only
one person wielding a knife since 2008 — a
hostage taker. By comparison US police have fatally shot more than 575
people allegedly wielding blades just in the years since 2013
We never are certain about the
identity of the beings in our dreams. We never see just one person but
totality, an instantaneous, condensed parade of people rather than a single
definitive presence – Alvaro Mutis – The Adventures and Misadventuees of
Maqroll, 2002 p37
In 2014, for the first time, law enforcement officials took
more property from American citizens than burglers did, Federal asset
forfeiture collections have risen from around $800 million in 2002 to almost
$4.5 billion in 2014. Burglary losses
topped out at $3.5 billion. The FBI tracks in addition to burglary, theft
(including motor vehicles) which was $8.8 billion. At least an additional $1
billion in forfeitures are probably taken by state and local police.
