Burr! I'm tired of winter. I only think that I like summer. Oppressive heat. Winter is not that cold (not here anyway, not today, thanks anthropocene). It's the dreariness. It's the dead vegetation. Fall is colorful but it only transitional. A splash of color then dreariness. Spring is what wait for. Daily change - buddings, fresh shoots. The yellows. The violets. You can dilly-dally (In the rain if you like with your goulashes one. Yellow ones to boot). I even look forward to getting the mower out (not really, I pay someone to do that). Ah Spring! But first I must get through the next two months. It's all in the mind, you know. And a little self-medication will take care of that.
A real catalyst of change is entering the Whitehouse. Maybe not the change that his supporters hope for. He's promising something better (no that was greater, I think) We'll get something out of this too, you know. We'll get something better than you'll get, you can be damn sure of that. There's no going back to the old politics.That's all dead. We've made sure of that. Thanks Mr President for being such a magnificent catalyst. Remember - Make America Better. Say it Loud. Be Proud.
A real catalyst of change is entering the Whitehouse. Maybe not the change that his supporters hope for. He's promising something better (no that was greater, I think) We'll get something out of this too, you know. We'll get something better than you'll get, you can be damn sure of that. There's no going back to the old politics.That's all dead. We've made sure of that. Thanks Mr President for being such a magnificent catalyst. Remember - Make America Better. Say it Loud. Be Proud.
The average per patient cost of a rare disease drug had risen from $84,000 a year in 2010 to $
[There is
a] relative absence of modern ‘degenerative’ disease (heart disease, cancer,
hypertension, diabetes, bowel disorders) among… hunter-gatherers and
subsistence farmers – Mark N Cohen – Health and the Rise of Civilization, 1989
p100
Use of GMOs decrease the use of insecticides but increase
the usage of herbicides on US farms
The cultural apparatus is
responsible for distributing the prevailing ideas [of political, military and
economic power] to a mass public – Stanley Aronowitz - Taking it Big, 2012 p233
When watching preschoolers for potential trouble, teachers
spend 42% of their time watching black boys; 34% watching white boys; 13% on white girls and 10% on black girls (Yale Child Study
Center)
The debates are part of the
unconscionable fraud that our political campaigns have become. – Walter
Cronkite
Sand is the 2nd most used natural resource on
earth, behind only water
The only country that has ever used
such weaponry [nuclear] will remain on record as ready and willing to do so
again without nuclear provocation, an act, it is now believed in Washington, that would create a calmer planet – Tom Engelhardt (The Nation 9/22/16)
Medical billing records more accuracy report a hospital
patient’s cause of death than do death certificates which tend to report the
initial reason for the patient’s admission and under-report any infection or
error that may have happened during their treatment. Actual reporting
procedures to the Center for Disease Control are controlled by the state and
not the federal government. Death from superbug infections if accurately
reported may actually exceed hospital deaths due heart disease or cancer.
To study only the world’s victors
keeps thought locked to a narrow reality. Out of defeat emerges ideas, changed
people, and new movements – Russell Jacoby – Picture Imperfect: Thought for an
Anti-Utopian Age, 2005 p5
Ten African and Asian countries representing just 2.5% of
the world’s economy host 56% of the world’s refugees (estimated at 56 million).
Politicians were sold like soft
drinks in election campaigns. Even the growth of a new conservatism in the 1980s
was not really a mass political movement. It was a sophisticated and largely
successful sales effort promoting unfettered markets – Gary S Cross – An All
Consuming Century, 2000 p9
The anutal number of humans (individuals) living longer than 110 years steadily
increased for most of the 20th century but has been decreasing this
century in spit of the increasing total number of people now (at this very moment) alive
Forced to chose between limiting
population or trying to increase food production, we chose the later and ended
up with starvation, warfare and tyranny – Jared Diamond
A recent study concludes that if you figure in the CO2
released in the production of ethanol and bio-diesel, the consumption of these
so called green fuels actually increases the total CO2 emission resulting from
their consumption. A previous study found that the total energy produced by
these fuels was less than the total energy used to produce them.
In 1910 the life-expectancy of the average car was about
10,000 miles.
The less educated fear they are
being governed by intellectual snobs who know nothing of their lives and
experiences. The educated fear their fate may be decided by know-nothings who
are ignorant of how the world really works… Elite anxiety about the
consequences of political ignorance is nothing new. In the long history of
intellectuals worrying about democracy and its failings, two basic fears keep
nagging away. The first is that democracy will mean rule by the poor, who will
use their power to steal from the rich. The second is that democracy will mean
rule by the ignorant, who will use their power to do the dumbest things. Both
these worries go back at least as far as Plato. – David Runciman (The Guardian)
The Average American family
spends $14,000 a year on automobiles
Well-informed people are likely to
have more elaborate and internally consistent worldviews than inattentive
people, but that just reflects the fact that their rationalisations are better
rehearsed. - Christopher Achen
As soon as I had done it
I knew it
I had been cutting Jalapenos
And had not washed my hands
And now here I am peeing
Oh God, I
said to myself
Now I have done it!
I washed my hands with soap
And hot water,
but I knew
Already that it was too late
Maybe not, I hoped
But in a
few minutes
I would know
Now you’ve gone and done it
Nothing left to do but suffer
The
consequences
And I do
Nothing you can do
I had done
it before
And I had
survived
God, I hope I never
Do this again
God, I hope I never
Do this again
Being in love has a very bad effect
on men – it seems to addle their wits. Now women are just the opposite – on top
of the world, looking radiant and twice as good-looing, as usual. Funny, isn’t
it, that it should suit women, and only make a man look like a sick sheep –
Agatha Christie – The Pale Horse
The higher one’s income the
less proportionally is donated to chariable work
He is now a capitalist—the owner of
a taxable asset…. How can Bolshevism flourish in a motorized
Country – Chevrolet advertisement,
1924
80% of millennials have never even tried a Big Mac. 44% of
adults between 21 and 27 have never sipped a Budweiser
The only part of our government policy apparatus now
capable of planning and with the money and moxie to act on its plans is our
armed services - Chas W. Freeman, Jr
For every US soldier killed in action, there will be 150 VA
disability claims
There can be no objective measure of social value. -
David Graeber – Revolutions in Reverse, 2011
You can’t eat information nor live on likes
The beginning of the end of the
world means that yesterday’s model of prosperity – let’s call it capitalist
liberal democracy – has reached its limits. It is like an aging machine that
shudders and backfires more violently and regularly, because it is broken. And
yet, we are unsure, as a world, where to go next. - Umair Faque
China is building its first ever foreign military post. In
Africa. Russia is reopening military bases in Vietnam and Cuba. It has reached an agreement with Egypt for a base there. And now has a permanent air and naval bases in
Syria. The US has bases in 74 countries; Great Britain in ten; and
France in seven
Journalism deserves a lot more blame
for Trump's success as a vulgar self-marketer, because that's what so much of
journalism itself has become. - Jim Sleeper
Enrollment in teacher preparation programs has dropping
dramatically, falling 35 percent nationwide in the last five years. The US
educational system has an 8% attrition rate. The shortfall of teachers is
expected to be at least 100,000 within the next fall.
We work in the present, not for the
present – Leon Blum
60% of people in a relationship say they’re not very
satisfied with their relationship (National Opinion Research Center)
But even regarding History as the
slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and
the virtue of individuals have been victimized— the question involuntarily
arises—to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been
offered – Hegel
