Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Everybody talks about living in a bubble as if being out of touch was the worst thing in the world, but, in fact, it’s not so bad, we’re all in little bubbles, drifting through the world in little bubbles of our own.
But the thing I don’t like about the phrase is that it can be be used by the left against the right, the right against the left and the sanctimonious, self-appointed middle against the rest of humanity. So it becomes meaningless.
It’s similar to the phrases “Wake up!,” “sheeple,” and “drinking the kool-aid.” They are used to indicate that the poster is aware of some key aspect of reality that nobody else has seen, and it just seems to me that anyone who would write “Wake up, Sheeple!” in a tweet or a facebook post probably does not actually have a case to make.
But, back to bubbles. I like bubbles. They are beautiful, and they are transparent, with a soapy glint of rainbow colors. They are also very fragile, and short lived. They start to move up into the sky and then -pop- it’s all over. They are not at all a bad example for our individual existences.

In the whole question over the alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. election, which I reckon is bullshit because Julian Assange says it bullshit, and he’s the one who is in a position to know, there is something that is being overlooked.
Hillary’s minions constantly raise the fact that SIXTEEN intelligence agencies agree that the Russians are behind it.
SIXTEEN intelligence agencies say it’s true. How can you possibly doubt SIXTEEN intelligence agencies?
First of all, the U.S. has SIXTEEN intelligence agencies? Why does the U.S. need SIXTEEN intelligence agencies? Do we have sixteen departments of education? Do we have sixteen space agencies? Why isn’t one intelligence agency enough? Are they gathering different intelligence? If so, which one is the government supposed to trust when they contradict each other?
I’m just asking questions here, I honestly had no idea that the U.S. had so many different intelligence agencies. What are their names? If we’re not supposed to know their names, if they’re operating clandestinely, I find that scary as hell. But perhaps I’m just underinformed. Maybe some of you Hillary supporters who are so enthusiastically echoing the report of these SIXTEEN supposed intelligence agencies could list them for me, and explain why we need so many and what their different functions are.
It could be, I suppose, that the Middle Eastern intelligence agency is different than the European intelligence agency, for instance, but apparently all SIXTEEN of these agencies were gathering information on Russia and Russia’s super duper hacking department which, after successfully leaking all of the emails people in the DNC had actually written exposing what an incredibly unDemocratic party they truly are, went on to plant a virus on some guy’s laptop in Vermont.
Or perhaps the information originated with the CIA and the other fifteen intelligence agencies’ investigations amounted to seeing the CIA report and saying “Yup. Looks good. If it comes from the CIA, we’ll go along with it.” Which is what I suspect.
If that’s the case, fifteen out of these sixteen agencies are redundant. If they are all working independently, then there are definitely too many cooks in the kitchen and no good can possibly come of it.

While public attention is focused on the upcoming horror show that is the Donald Trump presidency, and many of my fellow Berniecrats are bothered that the Clintons, showing that they have less of a political conscience than the Rockettes, will be attending the inauguration, Bernie Sanders has persuaded the state of New York to go ahead and give free public universities a try.
This is amazing news. Although we still don’t have legal marijuana on the federal level, the examples of Colorado and Washington were enough that now it is legal in several states, and California is one of them. I expect the same thing will happen with free universities.
Of course, there are differences. For one, although free public education produces a better educated work force, state lines are very fluid and New York may not get the full benefit of their expense if other states don’t follow suit.
It makes me think of my time at Brooklyn College, though. This was back in the 70s, and at the time it was free for New York residents. It was a simpler time, and much easier to alter the date on a driver’s license – they were not even laminated. Anybody with an eraser, a steady hand, and a bit of patience could change the date and pretend to have been a New York resident for over a year, when in fact I’d been there about a month.
I went there for about a year or so, studied creative writing, languages and linguistics, and a couple of other things. Then they started charging, and I decided to do a bit more traveling.
That’s been the story of my ‘college’ career. The semester in Paris was a token charge, the course was heavily subsidized by the French government, which approved of foreigners learning the language and a bit about their culture, and I’m grateful for that. I don’t use it much any more, but Sam is studying French in school and I’m able to help him a bit.
In California, Junior College was free, or at least very affordable, to tell you the truth I don’t remember, but I remember my journalism classes, and my only computer class ever, and an astronomy class that mostly taught me that astronomy was way too difficult for me but, you know, respect.
But, what is happening in New York now is at 4 year universities, it really means a lot and I’m sure will have a huge impact on a lot of people’s lives.
Good job, Bernie!

In the ‘Learn Something New Every Day Category:’ The word hurricane comes from the Mayan god of storms, Huracan.

Made a whole bunch of Flashcards the other night, just one of the many projects I didn’t get done over Christmas vacation, and was looking forward to trying them out today (they worked pretty well, not too different than the set I had, size is not a factor) and then had a great idea for a game while on the train today. Dead simple, really. I’m going to call it ‘Wheel of Words’ and all it requires is circle subdivided into pie slices, different colors for nouns, verbs and adjectives, and a spinning arrow. Probably for older kids, though, the 7 year olds won’t get it.

Just saw a great idea for clean energy, basically putting wheels, which looks a bit like egg beaters, inside water pipes. It’s a cool idea, because the water pipes have to be used anyway, and so a little bit of energy is generated each time you flush the toilet, each time you shower or brush your teeth. It reminds me a bit of the kinetic energy idea, like the dance floor built on a plate or bits of pavement in high pedestrian areas or even roads, it’s just energy being harvested which was going to waste.
So, I saved it to “The Utopian Project” the page I sort of set up in a half assed way a couple weeks ago and haven’t really tended since, so it’s basically dead in the water until I do something about it. I intend to, one of these days, but even if I just use it to park all of the great ideas that pass through my facebook feed now and again, it serves a valuable purpose.

It’s January 2nd, soon to be 3rd, and so the Happy New Year posts are dwindling. Sure, you’ll see a few more probably for the next couple of weeks even, retrospectives, lists, stuff like that but, basically, my facebook feed is starting to get back to its usual mix of cute cat photos, various people posting very scenic photos of wherever they are at, which I approve of and encourage because it’s a beautiful world we live in but on the other hand I would be lying if I said it doesn’t make me a bit jealous, people plugging their books, or their paintings, or their crafts, funny and inspiring memes, not particularly funny memes sent by redneck friends and relatives, and all the other stuff.
One thing that doesn’t seem to have changed a bit, unfortunately, is the political dialogue. After the election, although I was surprised that Hillary lost, I thought: Well, there’s one bright spark, we won’t ever hear from her again. I was only half right. Hillary herself seems to be staying relatively quiet. Her supporters, however, just won’t let it go. They continue to call us Stein supporters Trump supporters, they continue to talk about how Hillary was cheated – by us, by the press (Ha!), by the FBI, and by the Russians. It’s all bullshit.
Hillary lost because she was an absolutely horrible candidate. If you listen to a Barack Obama speech, you feel inspired. If you listen to a Bernie Sanders speech, you feel like someone just opened a window and there is a fresh breeze in the room. If you listen to a Hillary Clinton speech, you feel annoyed. If you listen to a Trump speech, you get angry. If you are the kind of person who supports him, you get angry at Mexicans, gays, blacks, etc…If you are normal, you get angry at Trump.
But, out of the 50% of people who voted, Trump got roughly 50% of the vote (O.K., a bit less if you want to split hairs) The difference is, Trump got 25% of the electorate to support him enthusiastically. Hillary also had about 25% of the total vote, but most of those were only voting for her because they were co-erced. That’s what ‘lesser of two evils’ means.
I would be very happy to join in the Trump bashing that is going on. There is lots of room for comedy, and plenty to be outraged about, and it’s only going to accelerate as soon as he gets nominated.
But, when you mention Hillary, I am reminded that we are not on the same side. And cannot be.