Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

It was a lovely Spring day today and all of my classes went as well as can be expected.  That is, with my 7th graders I have lowered my expectations down to a point where as long as nobody gets hurt I am satisfied.

Tomorrow I’ve got a 7 a.m. class so I am anxious to get to bed, and there is not too much in the news that I really have any tremendous insight into, so this is just going to be one of those blogs.

In Ukraine, I have no idea what the hell is going on, but the weird rumor is that U.S. mercenaries, like Blackwater types, were involved in the demonstrations that overthrew the government ( which overthrow I think was justified just by the opulence of Yanukovich’s mansion – instead of bitching about a coup d’etat, they ought to be glad nobody uses the guillotine any more).  Which may lead us back to that phone call a few weeks ago, where some lady  in the U.S. State Department said “Fuck the E.U., we can do this on our own” and we all laughed it off because tee hee, she said fuck, but totally ignored the underlying threat – what, exactly, where they planning on doing on their own?  Did the CIA precipitate the revolution and, by extension, everything that followed?  It would be in keeping with the CIA’s record of fucking up everything they touch.

Of course, Putin taking over Crimea is still a major dick move and way more than a little reminiscent of Hitler’s invasion of the Sudetenland in 1939 (or 38?).  Plenty of blame to go around.

I’ll leave you with this, because I thought it was mildly funny.  Hopefully, it won’t have as much popularity as that stupid Fox song because, like that, it’s only likely to be funny once or twice and not 500 times.

When the Mars One project was announced, a lot of people said “Who would be nutty enough to volunteer for that?”  Most of the people saying that were the types who are less than amazed by science, who never liked Star Trek because of all those people with  weird, scaly foreheads, and who complain about funding for NASA, saying “I think we should fix the problems here on Earth, first.”  Basically, morons.

Because you can’t spell space exploration without sex

But, admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to volunteer for a mission like this.  They are volunteering to travel 55 million kilometers to live the rest of their natural born lives on a dark, barren (Earth’s worst desert is like a tropical garden, in comparison) rock, with no chance of ever coming home again.  I wouldn’t do it.

Nonetheless, I was certain there would be lots of people interested, and the human race has not failed my expectations.  Out of over 200 thousand applicants , the project organizers have whittled it down to 1,058 finalists.  That’s right.  Only about one out of 200 made the final cut.  Eventually, they are looking for 40 people.

Now, I’m sure among that 200,000, there were a few flakes.  People who thought they would see God.  People who have insurmountable problems on Earth.  People who’ve watched a lot of Star Trek and thought they were going to hook up with someone who looks a bit like 7 of 9.

(fun fact about Jeri Ryan, who played 7 of 9:  When her ex-husband, Jack Ryan, was running for the Senate in 2004, details of their divorce became public.  Apparently, being married to the hottest woman in the Delta Quadrant wasn’t enough for him, and he’d tried to get her to go kinky and have group sex with whips and chains at clubs where they do that sort of thing – I’ve never been to one but, apparently, Republican politicians know where these places are.  Anyway, he was forced to withdraw from the race, handing an easy victory to the Democratic candidate, a newcomer named Barack Obama.)

But, to get back to the main topic, not 199,000 of them.  Those 1,058 finalists were chosen from among stiff competition.

When Europeans colonized the Americas, passage could be had by anyone who could pay for it, and some paid in unorthodox ways.  Debtors came.  Criminals came.  Religious fanatics came, in droves.  When the British colonized Australia, they just sent a bunch of convicts.

The colonization of space is different.  We are sending the best, the brightest, the fittest and the bravest.  I am proud that there are such humans among us.

This little bit on The Young Turks was interesting.  Even though it was mostly Cenk Uygur (I have no idea how to pronounce that) and guests talking about the quote, more than just the original quote, I thought the analysis was spot on.

The men who own Wisconsin

I used to like Cenk Uygur a lot more when I’d just read his stuff in print.  A Noam Chomsky level of brilliance, I thought, without the constant Israel bashing.  Then I saw him and what came across in print came across in person as sort of arrogant, but maybe that’s just me.  Probably, that’s just me.  Because I can’t find any fault with what he’s saying.

Of course, it will have little impact because he’s just saying something that everybody suspected anyway: government in general and, quite specifically, the governor of the fine state of Wisconsin (known for cheesemaking, beautiful autumn colors, and the Green Bay Packers), Scott “Weasel” Walker, are totally bought and paid for.

If you bring it up, people will just say “Well, that’s no surprise,” or worse “You’re just figuring this out now?  Where have you been,  under a rock?”  The lack of outrage implies acceptance, and acceptance of this is unacceptable.

What Uygur pointed out, by pointing out the key statements in an interview David Koch, one of the two infamous Koch brothers, is that the Koch brothers basically own Governor Walker.  He said “Of course we give him money.  We’re getting very good at this kind of thing.”  And, “we’re going to give more.”

Now, everybody is allowed to donate to politicians but if you, like so many conscientious citizens, occasionally send a candidate a check for $5 or $20, or buy one of their T-shirts or something, you don’t actually think that you own the government.

The Kochs, who are spending a million times more than you, most certainly do.  It’s a scary thought.

I know it happens all the time.  We should still be outraged.

Despite it being Sunday, I had a class this morning, three little kids, 12, 10 and 8, and they’re great kids, it’s a fun class, but I was still a bit grumpy about working on the weekend.  In the end, though, it was a good start to the day.

Stromovka Park

The class is in Podbaba, a part of Prague I don’t know well at all, but I’d looked at a map and it seemed like a short walk to Stromovka Park, and it  was, all along the river with  swans, and joggers, and it was not a cold day at all.  Then I walked through the park and it was high spring, a kid was playing with sticks by the edge of the pond, people were just hanging out on the benches, and over across the  fence, in the amusement park, people were being hurled at the ground with tremendous force, and then lifted, soaring, into the air, shrieking wild shrieks of terror and ecstasy.

I won’t do it every time, it took about two hours to get home, but it was a lovely day.

When I got home, had a quick lunch of pizza, then went up to catch the end of Sam’s football  game, which they won, 8-1.

Then Helena and I (mostly Helena, because I suck at computers) got my next book, 155 Sonnets, sent off to Create Space, so hopefully  it will be on Amazon in a week or two, and I want it to be on Kindle  as well, so we’ll get on that soon.

The only thing I didn’t get done that I was supposed to write student progress reports for February.  That’s O.K.  That will wait.  Today was a pretty good day.

I have noticed a very disturbing trend in the news of late.  I’m sure many of you have noticed it, too: the rabidly hysterical anti-marijuana viewpoint.  Gotta give ’em equal time, I guess, but they don’t really bring anything new to the table.  They just repeat the old, paranoid statements without any actual evidence, and the charges get more and more hysterical.

In the weeks since Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana, I have read articles about stoned drivers spreading terror on the naton’s  highways, marijuana as a gateway drug, and marijuana causing several deaths (which has never happened – sure, it’s possible to die of a heart attack when you’re stoned,  and if you’ve just smoked a big, fat dooby and an earthquake causes an Acme Company  2 ton safe to fall on your head, but you can’t blame the marijuana for that).

I suppose it is precisely because legalization in those states is so far functioning rather smoothly.  There have been large numbers of people waiting patiently in line, a larger than expected increase in state income, and many, many, happy hippies.  Side effects have included an overall drop in  traffic accidents, and an increase in  girl scout cookie sales.

Anyway, it got me to wondering why.  I know, all those years ago, people actually bought into the “marijuana is dangerous” crap, but this is the 21st century, the millennium of the great enlightenment, the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.  There have been more scientific investigations than Amsterdam has grow shops, and not only haven’t they found any down side to marijuana, they’re finding it can cure or at least relieve a whole range of ailments, including some kinds of cancer.

Also hemp, marijuana’s straight cousin,makes paper, rope, and a really nice cloth, tough like denim but much lighter, and softer.  The seeds make anice, crunchy addition to any salad, and the leaves and stalks can be ground up and served to cattle.  I’ve heard rumors that the cows love it, and I’m all for cows being happy.

I don’t know whether it’s big pharma or big cotton or somebody else that’s so seriously against seeing marijuana legalized, ever, and I’m not sure why, although I suspect that  there’s an “all  of the above’ factor going on.

Because it’s a goddamned wonder drug and it scares them shitless.