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Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Mild Observations
Most of what we do in the world is distraction from considering our mortality. Damn that neocortex!
There is nothing in this world except to have fun (after you work a bit) and not hurt anybody; the rest is just dressing. Italian and French, no doubt.
After this world? I can't know, and neither can you. But make up your mind if you can; agnostics are the heaviest drinkers.
It's going to rain. I can feel the humidity and stillness that comes before it. The storm is playing possum, hoping we'll forget he's coming.
Got a new bird cage for our two Parakeets. It's a bit larger. They can fly around a bit now. Shouldn't I get a room-sized cage?
Do they have a dreary life, caged, dependent on us for food and water? Do they wish to fly beyond their cage? Maybe they really don't. Maybe they are extraordinarily content. How can you tell the difference with Parakeets? They are fluttering behind me. But I can hear their wings on occasion making contact with the bars.
I had Chinese leftovers tonight. And the night before. They were better than last night when they were a day fresher. I can't figure out why. Maybe last night I was consumed by anticipation of basketball games and missed the taste.
Why do we keep thinking socialism is "evil." We have a hybrid system already: the Postal Service, the military, Medicaid, Medicare, Welfare, Social Security and a host of other programs are all socialist constructions. I am willing to bet that the folks who think socialism is evil are either wealthy or completely uniformed. The worst form of ignorance is the rejection of something about which you know nothing.
What did we do before toilet paper? Well, in the late 19h and early 20th centuries, we often used the ubiquitous Sears and Roebuck catalogue pages, affectionately called "Rears and Sorebutts." In other countries even today, the left hand, sans any covering, is applied. I find this hard to swallow. If true, watch out for their fast food restaurants.
There is nothing in this world except to have fun (after you work a bit) and not hurt anybody; the rest is just dressing. Italian and French, no doubt.
After this world? I can't know, and neither can you. But make up your mind if you can; agnostics are the heaviest drinkers.
It's going to rain. I can feel the humidity and stillness that comes before it. The storm is playing possum, hoping we'll forget he's coming.
Got a new bird cage for our two Parakeets. It's a bit larger. They can fly around a bit now. Shouldn't I get a room-sized cage?
Do they have a dreary life, caged, dependent on us for food and water? Do they wish to fly beyond their cage? Maybe they really don't. Maybe they are extraordinarily content. How can you tell the difference with Parakeets? They are fluttering behind me. But I can hear their wings on occasion making contact with the bars.
I had Chinese leftovers tonight. And the night before. They were better than last night when they were a day fresher. I can't figure out why. Maybe last night I was consumed by anticipation of basketball games and missed the taste.
Why do we keep thinking socialism is "evil." We have a hybrid system already: the Postal Service, the military, Medicaid, Medicare, Welfare, Social Security and a host of other programs are all socialist constructions. I am willing to bet that the folks who think socialism is evil are either wealthy or completely uniformed. The worst form of ignorance is the rejection of something about which you know nothing.
What did we do before toilet paper? Well, in the late 19h and early 20th centuries, we often used the ubiquitous Sears and Roebuck catalogue pages, affectionately called "Rears and Sorebutts." In other countries even today, the left hand, sans any covering, is applied. I find this hard to swallow. If true, watch out for their fast food restaurants.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Ideas for the Foolish
1. Spin off for yet another TV reality show for hoarders: "Don't Mess with My Mess"
2. Create a writer's software program that includes a dictionary with synonyms and antonyms, usage, grammar, rhyming dictionary, encyclopedia and history links, word and phrase etiologies, and so forth, all in one program. Synthesize it with a word processing program and put all this stuff on the tool bar or have these come up when you highlight a word or phrase or sentence?
3. Give me thirty minutes alone with every presidential candidate and allow me to ask any questions I want. Then read my impressions before you vote.
4. Require doctors and dentists to take a course - a full semester - in social skills training. I am getting very sick of doctors who: 1. don't listen, 2. run in and out the door without so much as a whisper of understanding of their patients, 3. try to make you feel stupid, 4. have the goal in mind without knowing all the facts, and 5. act as if you are blessed by their presence. They work for us, and we pay them well, so who's in charge?
5. Reward teachers! Plaques, certificates, assemblies in our honor, yes, but money speaks in the highest volume.
6. On all radios put in a repeat button/dial, maybe at 15 second intervals per punch or a dial that allows you to go back as far as you want. That way you can listen to the song you just heard or the news flash you just missed again. Can't be that tough.
7. Of course we are headed this way: a single device that does it all. We are close, but what we would need to get rid of all else would be a built in projector to show movies/TV on a wall, and a virtual keyboard. But, no music would ever be heard at the full dynamic range or quality. Maybe peripherals could be plugged in until those technologies could be developed.
8. Why is it so hard to find blueberry Hostess fruit pies? We need instantaneous global access.
9. Holographic three dimensional setups for rooms with character delete modes so that you could put yourself into the scene. Great training for actors. I think this is still 10-15 years out.
10. All mail delivered on Saturdays only. Private mail companies could deliver at other times. Money savings, yes, but I am thinking it would make Saturdays an even more special day.
2. Create a writer's software program that includes a dictionary with synonyms and antonyms, usage, grammar, rhyming dictionary, encyclopedia and history links, word and phrase etiologies, and so forth, all in one program. Synthesize it with a word processing program and put all this stuff on the tool bar or have these come up when you highlight a word or phrase or sentence?
3. Give me thirty minutes alone with every presidential candidate and allow me to ask any questions I want. Then read my impressions before you vote.
4. Require doctors and dentists to take a course - a full semester - in social skills training. I am getting very sick of doctors who: 1. don't listen, 2. run in and out the door without so much as a whisper of understanding of their patients, 3. try to make you feel stupid, 4. have the goal in mind without knowing all the facts, and 5. act as if you are blessed by their presence. They work for us, and we pay them well, so who's in charge?
5. Reward teachers! Plaques, certificates, assemblies in our honor, yes, but money speaks in the highest volume.
6. On all radios put in a repeat button/dial, maybe at 15 second intervals per punch or a dial that allows you to go back as far as you want. That way you can listen to the song you just heard or the news flash you just missed again. Can't be that tough.
7. Of course we are headed this way: a single device that does it all. We are close, but what we would need to get rid of all else would be a built in projector to show movies/TV on a wall, and a virtual keyboard. But, no music would ever be heard at the full dynamic range or quality. Maybe peripherals could be plugged in until those technologies could be developed.
8. Why is it so hard to find blueberry Hostess fruit pies? We need instantaneous global access.
9. Holographic three dimensional setups for rooms with character delete modes so that you could put yourself into the scene. Great training for actors. I think this is still 10-15 years out.
10. All mail delivered on Saturdays only. Private mail companies could deliver at other times. Money savings, yes, but I am thinking it would make Saturdays an even more special day.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Newest Pet Peeves
1. Using the word "to" when the word "too" is the correct choice. It's too easy to get wrong.
2. Leaving lights on. I am on the verge of becoming my father.
3. Leaving crackers or other bread products out, cover off, container not closed, etc. Who is it that craves stale Saltines?
4. Thinking that emotions are always reflections of the truth, which then become a projection. "I am angry, therefore, there is something or someone to be angry with." Of course emotions are sometimes accurate reflections, but how do you know the difference?
5. Thinking you know a lot about a subject because you read an article. "That evolution thing is so wrong!" I am particularly disturbed when someone reads something that is not scientific but claims it to be so. Like the Bible.
6. Thinking all online sources are reliable or relevant. "If it's in writing and it's on the web, it must be the truth!" Elvis is not dead.
7. Letting people take advantage of you. "It's my duty to do things for other people." "A good person is someone who helps other people out (all the time at your expense)." Believing this will ensure a particularly miserable life.
8. Thinking you know what comes after death. "I'll be greeted by Jesus at beautiful pearly gates and see all my loved ones." And meet Elvis, who isn't dead yet. Why "pearly?" Wouldn't old wooden ones appeal to more folks and add a little humble character? I know only one thing for certain: my body will be worm food.
9. Believing that humans are somehow fundamentally different from other living things. Nope.
10. Raising your kids without limits or expectations, protecting them from all things difficult, showering them with gifts and praise at every turn, and rewarding them for the slightest effort or accomplishment. All I know is, I don't want to be friends with that kid when he gets older.
2. Leaving lights on. I am on the verge of becoming my father.
3. Leaving crackers or other bread products out, cover off, container not closed, etc. Who is it that craves stale Saltines?
4. Thinking that emotions are always reflections of the truth, which then become a projection. "I am angry, therefore, there is something or someone to be angry with." Of course emotions are sometimes accurate reflections, but how do you know the difference?
5. Thinking you know a lot about a subject because you read an article. "That evolution thing is so wrong!" I am particularly disturbed when someone reads something that is not scientific but claims it to be so. Like the Bible.
6. Thinking all online sources are reliable or relevant. "If it's in writing and it's on the web, it must be the truth!" Elvis is not dead.
7. Letting people take advantage of you. "It's my duty to do things for other people." "A good person is someone who helps other people out (all the time at your expense)." Believing this will ensure a particularly miserable life.
8. Thinking you know what comes after death. "I'll be greeted by Jesus at beautiful pearly gates and see all my loved ones." And meet Elvis, who isn't dead yet. Why "pearly?" Wouldn't old wooden ones appeal to more folks and add a little humble character? I know only one thing for certain: my body will be worm food.
9. Believing that humans are somehow fundamentally different from other living things. Nope.
10. Raising your kids without limits or expectations, protecting them from all things difficult, showering them with gifts and praise at every turn, and rewarding them for the slightest effort or accomplishment. All I know is, I don't want to be friends with that kid when he gets older.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
I watched a CBS segment this AM about women and their hair. Their conclusion was that women who have "bad hair days" really are less confident and it negatively affects them through their day. But why?
In some ways, the answer goes to Evolutionary Psychology. Evolution favors the genetically better. Humans are conditioned to respond to cues of genetic, and therefore immune system, superiority: clear skin, waist hip ratios close to .7 (in females; in males .9), and other signals like full, shiny hair. Hairdos are simply amplifications of this biological cuing system. What's this about on a psychological level? Fear of rejection. I explain this to my students whenever I can. We fear first and foremost (after the threat of loss of food, water, and other biological necessities) that others will not approve of us, that we will not be loved. This fear derives from pair bonding imperatives, and it is intense and primal. The advertising machinery knows this.
The manipulations of this are so clear that I am still astonished that most cannot see it. Advertisers play on the dynamic by engaging the fears shared by everyone (save for a few with particular pathologies or perhaps a highly evolved individual) and then offering a way to quell them by implying that if you buy this product, you will be loved and accepted.
Take shampoos. The Prell commercial where the woman fans in slow motion her magnificent head of thick and shiny hair, is a great example. If you use Prell, you too will be beautiful, and if you are beautiful (because right now you are not) others, particularly men, will want you. You will no longer be lonely or feel like an outcast. You will be in the group that men yearn and hunt for. And if you keep using our products, your partner will stay with you.
I recently asked a class of mine why women need so many pairs of shoes? A student responded saying "It's fashion!" I asked what the need was for a woman to be in fashion? She said, "So you'll look your best!" Who runs the fashion and cosmetic industry? Men. Who spends the money on advertising to get your attention? Men. Who wants you to wear a certain outfit, a certain pair of shoes? Men. Why? Do men really care what kind of shoes a woman is wearing? No. So the whole thing is simply a manipulation to get your money? Yes. How do they do it? Easy. By showing you imagery of unhappy, lonely women who are wearing shitty shoes. These women are sad, depressed, frazzled. And then you see happy, fulfilled women in relationships who use the product. They virtually writhe in orgasmic ecstasy before your eyes. Who would you rather be? Nuff said.
It's the same formula they use to sell everything to men. We are sold formulas and hardware to make us more virile and to generate envy among other men, a way to ascend in the hierarchy of social power and dominance. Drink Budweiser, and you too can have a swarm of beautiful comely women playing volleyball with you on the beach, all smiling and ready to go to bed with you. Men are sold a bill of goods, too, on things like Viagra. Never mind that these drugs are only 60-80% effective: they are sold as cure-alls for failing penises, the worst imaginable destiny for any man. A man without a stiff one is useless, the advertising implies. Buy this product and you'll really be a man!
Now the show also made reference to the scarcity of blond hair as the origin to it's special importance and interest. Not entirely true. Yes, blond hair is less common than shades of brown or black, but if this were the directing variable, then red haired women would be in special demand, and they are not. In ancient times, prostitutes dyed their hair blond as a signal that they were in the sex business, to distinguish them from all others. That conditioning has carried a long way forward. Do blonds have more fun? Only if you are blond and a prostitute, and only if you consider prostitution "fun."
In the end, things are distractions from what's really important: our emotional connections to others.
In some ways, the answer goes to Evolutionary Psychology. Evolution favors the genetically better. Humans are conditioned to respond to cues of genetic, and therefore immune system, superiority: clear skin, waist hip ratios close to .7 (in females; in males .9), and other signals like full, shiny hair. Hairdos are simply amplifications of this biological cuing system. What's this about on a psychological level? Fear of rejection. I explain this to my students whenever I can. We fear first and foremost (after the threat of loss of food, water, and other biological necessities) that others will not approve of us, that we will not be loved. This fear derives from pair bonding imperatives, and it is intense and primal. The advertising machinery knows this.
The manipulations of this are so clear that I am still astonished that most cannot see it. Advertisers play on the dynamic by engaging the fears shared by everyone (save for a few with particular pathologies or perhaps a highly evolved individual) and then offering a way to quell them by implying that if you buy this product, you will be loved and accepted.
Take shampoos. The Prell commercial where the woman fans in slow motion her magnificent head of thick and shiny hair, is a great example. If you use Prell, you too will be beautiful, and if you are beautiful (because right now you are not) others, particularly men, will want you. You will no longer be lonely or feel like an outcast. You will be in the group that men yearn and hunt for. And if you keep using our products, your partner will stay with you.
I recently asked a class of mine why women need so many pairs of shoes? A student responded saying "It's fashion!" I asked what the need was for a woman to be in fashion? She said, "So you'll look your best!" Who runs the fashion and cosmetic industry? Men. Who spends the money on advertising to get your attention? Men. Who wants you to wear a certain outfit, a certain pair of shoes? Men. Why? Do men really care what kind of shoes a woman is wearing? No. So the whole thing is simply a manipulation to get your money? Yes. How do they do it? Easy. By showing you imagery of unhappy, lonely women who are wearing shitty shoes. These women are sad, depressed, frazzled. And then you see happy, fulfilled women in relationships who use the product. They virtually writhe in orgasmic ecstasy before your eyes. Who would you rather be? Nuff said.
It's the same formula they use to sell everything to men. We are sold formulas and hardware to make us more virile and to generate envy among other men, a way to ascend in the hierarchy of social power and dominance. Drink Budweiser, and you too can have a swarm of beautiful comely women playing volleyball with you on the beach, all smiling and ready to go to bed with you. Men are sold a bill of goods, too, on things like Viagra. Never mind that these drugs are only 60-80% effective: they are sold as cure-alls for failing penises, the worst imaginable destiny for any man. A man without a stiff one is useless, the advertising implies. Buy this product and you'll really be a man!
Now the show also made reference to the scarcity of blond hair as the origin to it's special importance and interest. Not entirely true. Yes, blond hair is less common than shades of brown or black, but if this were the directing variable, then red haired women would be in special demand, and they are not. In ancient times, prostitutes dyed their hair blond as a signal that they were in the sex business, to distinguish them from all others. That conditioning has carried a long way forward. Do blonds have more fun? Only if you are blond and a prostitute, and only if you consider prostitution "fun."
In the end, things are distractions from what's really important: our emotional connections to others.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign: What I Want
I have some things I want to say about the candidates and the upcoming election:
1. I want someone who doesn't want to be president to be president. You have to ask yourself: what kind of person really would want to be president? You have to be a fucking idiot to want to be president. You get old and grey really fast, few really like or trust you, and you actually have little power to fix much of anything. I want a Jewish banker or an Organizational Psychologist or maybe even a Social Worker. Those folks know what the score is.
2. I want a ceiling placed on campaign expenditures. After the Supreme Court decided that corporations are people, money has poured in as predicted. So what would happen if we set a limit, of say 10 million dollars? No TV ads, no constant mailers, no robocalls, no bullshit. Well, there would be lots more emails.
3. I want each and every candidate to take the MMPI with professional interpretation and an FBI background check. I want all the neighbors who these candidates have ever had to be interviewed and those interviews put on YouTube. Guess what? Obama would come out way ahead.
4. I want Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman back in the race. I miss those batshit crazy gals. I really am entertained by folks who don't have a clue how narcissitic, stupid and intollerant they actually are.
5. I want to see whether these candidates know how to do laundry and go shopping using coupons. If they get confused at any time during these activities, they're out!
6. I want to see film of Newt Gingrich talking to his various wives, in their homes. Think about this: he is using daughters from his first marriage to serve as witnesses against his second wife who he says is lying about his third one, who he cheated on his second wife with, who he went to see in the hospital to serve divorce papers on. I think we'd all breathe easier knowing that he is as we all suspect: completely narcisssistic and controlling; that he really is a person of low character and a complete faker when he pretends to give a shit about you and me.
7. I want our president to come clean: he (or if we are lucky, she) doesn't control the economy. We are globally intertwined such that this is not posssible. The congress is so unable to reach consesnsus that this is now impossible. Doesn't the congress have incredible authority to make fundamental changes in economic policy? They blame the president while they sit on their fat, rich asses and do nothing. Ask yourself this: what policies has anyone in congress come up with that in any way fundamentally improves our economy in the last ten years? Can't even tell you. Why would they change anything so lucrative to them?
8. I want to end to offshore money hiding/laundering/banking by anyone, anywhere. No more Swiss bank accounts or Cayman Island bank accounts that simnply deprive us of useful and appropriate funds to do our country's business. No more corporations hiding in foreign countries to pay slave wages and hide under lenient tax codes. Folks who hide money are not patriotic Americans who give a damn about anything but themselves. They certainly aren't creating any jobs.
That should just about do it.
1. I want someone who doesn't want to be president to be president. You have to ask yourself: what kind of person really would want to be president? You have to be a fucking idiot to want to be president. You get old and grey really fast, few really like or trust you, and you actually have little power to fix much of anything. I want a Jewish banker or an Organizational Psychologist or maybe even a Social Worker. Those folks know what the score is.
2. I want a ceiling placed on campaign expenditures. After the Supreme Court decided that corporations are people, money has poured in as predicted. So what would happen if we set a limit, of say 10 million dollars? No TV ads, no constant mailers, no robocalls, no bullshit. Well, there would be lots more emails.
3. I want each and every candidate to take the MMPI with professional interpretation and an FBI background check. I want all the neighbors who these candidates have ever had to be interviewed and those interviews put on YouTube. Guess what? Obama would come out way ahead.
4. I want Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman back in the race. I miss those batshit crazy gals. I really am entertained by folks who don't have a clue how narcissitic, stupid and intollerant they actually are.
5. I want to see whether these candidates know how to do laundry and go shopping using coupons. If they get confused at any time during these activities, they're out!
6. I want to see film of Newt Gingrich talking to his various wives, in their homes. Think about this: he is using daughters from his first marriage to serve as witnesses against his second wife who he says is lying about his third one, who he cheated on his second wife with, who he went to see in the hospital to serve divorce papers on. I think we'd all breathe easier knowing that he is as we all suspect: completely narcisssistic and controlling; that he really is a person of low character and a complete faker when he pretends to give a shit about you and me.
7. I want our president to come clean: he (or if we are lucky, she) doesn't control the economy. We are globally intertwined such that this is not posssible. The congress is so unable to reach consesnsus that this is now impossible. Doesn't the congress have incredible authority to make fundamental changes in economic policy? They blame the president while they sit on their fat, rich asses and do nothing. Ask yourself this: what policies has anyone in congress come up with that in any way fundamentally improves our economy in the last ten years? Can't even tell you. Why would they change anything so lucrative to them?
8. I want to end to offshore money hiding/laundering/banking by anyone, anywhere. No more Swiss bank accounts or Cayman Island bank accounts that simnply deprive us of useful and appropriate funds to do our country's business. No more corporations hiding in foreign countries to pay slave wages and hide under lenient tax codes. Folks who hide money are not patriotic Americans who give a damn about anything but themselves. They certainly aren't creating any jobs.
9. I want an end to congressional insider trading. That's just so incredibly wrong, at every level.
10. I want every president to get sex on demand. I'm serious. The world becomes instantaeously both clearer and rosier at those moments, doesn't it?
That should just about do it.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
My New New Year's Resolutions
1. I vow to love my family more than they thought I could, maybe even more than I thought I could.
2. I wish I was half the man I am, so I vow to lose weight this year. I don't know how to do it yet, but I will do it somehow. Perhaps fewer tubs of popcorn will do the trick. That will, however, create misery on movie nights.
3. I will make great strides writing my book on Diabetes. I simply must. I don't know if any publisher will want it, but if they don't maybe I can publish it myself. A double-edged, if not triple-edged blade.
4. I promise to continue my withering satirical, sarcastic, pessimistic view of the wold, especially of the people in it. That way I won't be disappointed in any outcome.
5. I vow to do everything in my power to not have Christmas or Thanksgiving at our house in the next few years (but I have no say in this, actually.) We have 10-14 of my wife's family over. If this were my entire family collected in one place, under these circumstances, I would kill myself.
6. I want to improve my audio-visuals for my classes. More in-class exercises, and out-of-class real world assignments too.
7. I bought new shoes, new socks, and new underwear. I love new underwear. I vow to wear these. The crimson briefs will be reserved for OU game day use only.
8. No one in my immediate sphere of influence will be deprived of my lack of humility this year.
9. I promise to get rid of crap I no longer use, wear, or in the case of the kitchen cupboards, eat.
10. I vow to never create a list of New Year's Resolutions again, ever.
2. I wish I was half the man I am, so I vow to lose weight this year. I don't know how to do it yet, but I will do it somehow. Perhaps fewer tubs of popcorn will do the trick. That will, however, create misery on movie nights.
3. I will make great strides writing my book on Diabetes. I simply must. I don't know if any publisher will want it, but if they don't maybe I can publish it myself. A double-edged, if not triple-edged blade.
4. I promise to continue my withering satirical, sarcastic, pessimistic view of the wold, especially of the people in it. That way I won't be disappointed in any outcome.
5. I vow to do everything in my power to not have Christmas or Thanksgiving at our house in the next few years (but I have no say in this, actually.) We have 10-14 of my wife's family over. If this were my entire family collected in one place, under these circumstances, I would kill myself.
6. I want to improve my audio-visuals for my classes. More in-class exercises, and out-of-class real world assignments too.
7. I bought new shoes, new socks, and new underwear. I love new underwear. I vow to wear these. The crimson briefs will be reserved for OU game day use only.
8. No one in my immediate sphere of influence will be deprived of my lack of humility this year.
9. I promise to get rid of crap I no longer use, wear, or in the case of the kitchen cupboards, eat.
10. I vow to never create a list of New Year's Resolutions again, ever.
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