Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Tomorrow is Monday, a normal Monday. Isabel will take off for a one week ski trip, so no Street Dance, which makes for a relatively free day. Maybe I should work on my flash cards, which didn’t get done over Christmas vacation, or on ‘The Utopian Project,’ a page I started over a week ago but haven’t done anything on.
We did get my next book “The Meaning of Life in Easy English” sent off to Create Space, so that’s an accomplishment.
There’s not too much I feel compelled upon to comment tonight. I hope the Queen’s O.K. Bummed about the Turkish night club attack. The Year is not off to a good start.
I’ll write a more serious blog tomorrow.

I am basically optimistic, because somebody has to be, and I’m burned out on bemoaning what a quagmire of stupidity human civilization is inevitably walking into. So, politics is obviously not the point I am optimistic about.
I am optimistic about science. I am optimistic about music, and art, and innovation of all sorts. On a personal note, I am optimistic about my kids.
But mostly, I am optimistic about science.
As Donald Trump gets settled into the Oval Office, just finding out where everything is, the toilets and whatnot, science is still moving forward. There will be advancements in computer technology announced, probably within the first month of his administration.
We already have a creature with a voice who can advise us on almost anything, Siri, and we’ve got robots who can walk upstairs and hide under the table, put those two together and you’ve got walking, talking individuals who could do any job humans can do, and better.
Or, I consider it a real possibility that we may establish contact with extraterrestrials at some point in the next 4 years. We’re discovering more exoplanets every day.
Certainly, the science of cannabis is evolving, and it’s legalization has been a raving success everywhere it’s been tried. So, I’m optimistic about that.
I’m optimistic that solar and wind energy will soon render oil obsolete, no matter how big a deal is made between Trump and Putin. Solar and wind energy technology improves and improves, and oil technology doesn’t, and in any event, is sort of limited to the availability of oil.
Politics has it’s limits. There’s a whole world of stuff that’s beyond Trump.

We took a trip to Dresden today, mostly because it’s an easy day trip from Prague. It was Helena’s idea, but I’d never been there so I was fine with it. We had considered canceling if roads were icy, but decided to go for it, and it remained above freezing for the day, although we drove through patches of fog there and back. Just across the border, went through a tunnel, fog on the way in, clear, blue sky on the way out.
We took a walk along Prager Strasse, all mall, a gypsy family choir singing, and then around some of the touristy buildings, some brilliant gold statues at the top of domes, absolutely radiant in the sun, a massively ornate palace around a courtyard, it was actually a museum I think but that wasn’t on our agenda, then across the river just to walk across the river and take the tram back, the kids wanted to try the tram and I was down for that, I’m curious about other cities’ public transportation systems, too.
The other side of the river was a lovely walk, too, looking back across at an array of classic old buildings to rival Prague, and there was a big, flat lawn area which must be a great picnic and hanging out place in the summer, I’m imagining plenty of picnickers bring a couple extra bottles of wine and stay until well into the evening.
For lunch, the kids would have been happy with McDonald’s, because they’re kids. We wanted something German, and we wound up, much as we likely would have in Prague, opting for a place called Asian Snack Box, and it was fine.
Got lost a bit on the way back, just getting out of Dresden, and then ran into the same, patchy fog on the way back but now we are home.
It was a nice day, A needed change.

So, some resolution to condemn Israel comes up before the U.N., as they do with great regularity, and the U.S., for a change, doesn’t stand up for Israel. The U.S. says “Nah, we’re gonna’ just pass on this one.”
Benjamin Netanyahu is infuriated. He’s threatened New Zealand with war, if that makes any sense.
About bloody time, is what I think. Honestly, I don’t know what Israel has over the U.S. (Yes, I’ve got a theory. Of course, I’ve got a theory. More on that in a moment.) But, I assume they must have something, because we never vote to condemn them over anything, and they’ve committed some egregious human rights violations, and sometimes those votes are Everybody against Two, the U.S. and Israel, so you know they must be fucking up bad, because Canada ain’t got no dog in this fight. Switzerland ain’t got no dog in this fight. Sri Lanka ain’t got no dog in this fight.
O.K., here’s my theory: the Israelis, of course, know the truth about the U.S.S. Liberty, which was ‘accidentally’ attacked on June 7th, 1967, during the 6 Day War. I put accidentally in parentheses because I don’t believe it was accidental at all. Now, here is where my theory has to subdivide. First, there is the theory that the reason the U.S. always does whatever Israel wants is because they know the truth behind the attack on the Liberty. I will stick to that one even if their connection is somewhat different than follows in my scenario. Basically, I think LBJ hired the Israelis to sink an American ship so he could blame it on the Egyptians and invade the Middle East, securing all those oil fields for his good buddies and campaign contributors at Kellogg, Brown and Root, later Halliburton.
Think that’s far-fetched? Think Gulf of Tonkin incident. Almost the same thing, except the Liberty, quite stubbornly, refused to sink.
Of course, one obvious flaw in this is that the Israelis come out looking bad, too, even if they can lay primary blame at the feet of LBJ. Maybe they don’t care.
Their supporters would still support them. They’re like Republicans, in that way.
I don’t know. That’s just one theory. I’d be glad to entertain others.

Helena and Sam drove up to Mlada Boleslav today, to her sister’s place, and picked up Isabel from there to bring her back, it’s about halfway up to the grandparents, at the cottage.
So, I had a free day, and spent it in appropriate sloth and inactivity. Had a bit of a sci-fi orgy, though, which was cool. Watched about 3 hours, a bit more, 3 episodes and a bit, of Babylon 5.
I remember when it came out, I was real glad that there was another science fiction series out there, sooner or later something has to replace Star Trek, but getting tired of it pretty quick. Not sure exactly why. Part of it is D’Ellen, the Minbari lady who seems to be shtooping the head human. That hair. On her planet, all the women have shaved heads, with that weird skull bone wrapping around like a reversed version of Geordie Laforge’s glasses, and they were weirdly exotic and beautiful in a cold, mysterious way. But she’s got hair growing there, I guess because she’s adapted human styles living among humans, but it was a bad aesthetic choice on the part of the show’s producers. Maybe it’s the bad writing and the over obvious jokes, maybe bad acting all around, maybe a few too many 1950s style sex stereotypes, I don’t know. The plots were good, they had cool aliens, so it sure kept me occupied on a stoned, lazy afternoon but it wasn’t great TV then, and it’s not great TV now.
Then, the show I’d been waiting for all day, Mars. But, they didn’t show the latest episode, it was a previous episode followed by a ‘making of’ episode, followed by a straight up documentary about some Russian probe of Mars. So, I’m a bit ticked off about that. I don’t care what you have to say, Ron Howard! I want my show!