Bits and Pieces

Advent Calendar

If you are into Christmas, check out Jacquielawson.com. The British company produces an incredible Advent Calendar each year. I'm on my fourth year. Starting on Dec. 1, users get to click on the Christmas ornament whose number matches the day. You then get some animation celebrating the holiday. The ornaments are strewn about the outside of an English village. Clicking on one on the appropriate day, gives you an animation that brings something new to the village. The unlocked animations then continue throughout the life of the calendar, so they accumulate and the village becomes more and more busy as Christmas approaches. The calendars feature wonderful art, family appropriate subject matter, spectacular animations, and history lessons. This year's calendar is based on Victorian traditions. (Last year's was Edwardian.) Downloading the app will result in the best holiday money you will spend.

The icon that launches Advent Calendar will appear on your desktop after installation.

Psy Music

I still remember the exuberance the Psy's (the Korean entertainer) Gangnam Style so I was interested to see that Psy released a new piece today. (Plus I discovered a second relatively new one.)  Napal Baji (somebody claims that means Trumpet Pants) is flashy, exuberant, bizarre, catchy and you gotta see it at least once in your life. Daddy, on the other hand, the one released today, is strange indeed (but equally fascinating). The imagery this guy comes up with it truly original. Would love to hear why he included the vignettes he did,

Rockin & Rollin

Oklahoma experienced another earthquake today. 4.5 in magnitude. They just keep coming now that they frack in the state. Even with scientists proving that fracking poisons groundwater, can cause flammable drinking water, and seems to have cancer clusters in the vicinities of the wells, industry just keeps doing what it wants in the quest for profits.

Gloomy day. Leaves are all down. It's raining. House is clean. Buddy sleeping in his new favorite place: under the red recliner. NCIS reruns in the background.

The news today was chock-a-block full of pathetic men who will be brought to justice. (These guys would not want me being a judge.)

Cory Morgan, the animal who lured then killed a rival's nine-year-old son in Chicago. Concede that brother being killed and mother being shot not the kind of environment one wants for anybody but the Emperor of Meland declares that murdering an innocent child as some sort of retribution means  you lose your life, too.

Behold Johnny Max Mount. He shot a Mississippi Waffle House employee in the head because she asked him to extinguish his cigarette. Maybe not quite as vile as the child murderer but right up there as far as I'm concerned. Gets as much consideration as showed the employee. None.

This gem of a person is Robert L. Dear. Mr. Dear holds the distinction of being the murderer at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Clinic—three individuals killed, another nine injured. Early info seems to indicate Dear may suffer severe medical issues. Recognition of said issues should put Dear away for life with consideration.

That's all first reaction stuff. (Second actually given reading about them was first.) Even with guys this repulsive, especially with guys this repulsive we have to be sure of guilt. Then drop the hammer.

Realized how quickly this went from simply expressing outrage over three criminals, to realizing these guys land us squarely into discussions of the death penalty.  No way I'm going to be thinking about that tonight. 

(Mini observation: Middle Easterners 0; white guys 2; black guy 1. 

It's Thanksgiving; let’s talk about Texas. 

For most of my life Texas was the epitome of a Wild West populated by tough, self-sufficient people living under hostile conditions. Texas was part of a never-ending stream of TV westerns—white hats versus black hats—parading before by young eyes. It was tales of the Alamo. Texas was pioneers overcoming near insurmountable barriers. The monster-sized state was a giant repository of heroism. It remained that way to me from childhood to whenever I stopped paying attention.

What brought Texas back to my attention today was reading that one of its legislators wants the state to consider seceding from the US at a March 1st GOP primary. Secession talk again. This is the third time? 30th? 

Despite always being glad that Texas is a part of the USA neighborhood, there have been Texas-specific situations over the last ten years that make me nervous:

A. The inordinate control Texas has in choosing textbooks of partisan nature. That’s not just bad enough for the education of the state’s children, but Texas’ choices determine our choices as well. (Explained in detail in How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us by Gail Collins in the June 21, 2012 issue of The New York Review of Books.)

B. Their criminal justice system. I always envisioned Texas lawmen as old-school heroes like Walker, Texas Ranger but find that today’s police departments are as likely as not to have an inordinately large number of bad people in their ranks. If you type “bad Texas cops” into Google, you get back 10,900,000 references.

C. Texas politicians. Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Ken Paxton, Rick Perry, the Bushes. (That’s an impressive group of wingnuts! Do not understand how these people were elected to office.)

Secede? Become a nation where everybody carries a gun in defense of freedom? (Now that is someplace I want to live—with a bunch of desperate folks toting lethal weapons. If the Mexicans just wait a couple of weeks after secession, they will be able walk into a Texas defended by the few white Texans left after experiencing payback from Native Americans, Hispanics, and each other via drugs, alcohol and gunfights.)

What does the neighborhood of united states lose if Texas succeeds at secession? Certainly dirt and rocks; lots of dirt and rocks—269,000 square miles of it. Beef? It would be healthier for us to cut back, anyway. Cacti? Exotic plants but a little prickly. (Luckily they thrive in extreme environments that man can't endure, so they may reach the earth's next stage climate.) Chili and BBQ? Good dishes but other states do the same as well.

Do we lose much with the disappearance of that famous Texas football we hear so much about? Considering the sport consists of administering mental and physical abuse on our choicest young men, I’m not seeing much of a downside here. Any decrease of football is a good thing. (Look at what we find in our older athletes: so much brain damage. In addition, players run a real risk of death. According to the Illinois High School Association, seven high school students died playing football this year.)

Texas oil? We won't lose it. We will be buying it from the new government of MexTex. That financial flow will be one of the major lifelines for a newly seceded Texas, and while its presence won’t stop what's going to happen if Texas secedes, it will be protected by and prop up the victors who pop up.

All-in-all, I think Texas needs the rest of us more than we need Texas. 

Still, I don't want them to leave the Union. Texas was hard won by our ancestors, and I think we would dishonor their lives if we let it be absorbed by Mexico because it couldn’t be defended. (I doubt that a Texas cowboy army of today, a blend of trailer park rednecks and Calvin Klein yuppies, could succeed without us even with Alamo hearts.) We need Texas to guard the land approach to our south; Texas needs us to have their backs.

Policing Thoughts

Given events documented every single day in the media, I was thinking it's time to reassess the effectiveness of psychological testing for people who sign up to be police officers. Curious, I asked my BFF, AM, a police officer in Arizona about the psychological screening of police. He told me that prospective candidates are tested before attending a police academy. If that is true, I think we definitely should reevaluate our current testing as it seems to me there are far too many individuals with bully temperaments being admitted to our ranks in blue. 

I was raised to believe that at their very cores, all police departments have the mission: To protect and serve. Reading the news makes it seem increasing numbers of groups are switching to: To pummel and shoot. I acknowledge the dangers of the job, and can only imagine how nerve-wracking it must be to feel like you have a target on your back whenever you’re out in public, but too many of our police are overreacting with lethal force first, questions later (and lawsuit payments last).

I bring up the whole police-versus-society dynamic because I think things don't have to be this way. I mourn the current realities of policing; I know our society can to do things better. My friend AM is a great example of better.

AM moved from New England to Arizona with his family to be closer to his wife's immediate family. While in NE, A and his wife, KM, a registered nurse, were both committed members of their local volunteer fire department. Committed. KM did everything from driving the large trucks to administer life-saving medical treatment to the injured. She was an officer in the department and had been an EMT for about 14 years. AM, ever competitive with his initiating, competitive wife, fought fires, was a certified scuba diver who recovered bodies, was trained in varied rescue operations, and thought nothing of rappelling down rock cliffs to help total strangers. He too was an EMT with around 19 years experience. In his Clark Kent life, AM was a building contractor with a rep for do-it-all excellence.

AM and KM, and all four little Ms, buy a home in a small to mid-sized community in the mountains of Arizona. KM—destined to be a tale herself one day—takes a management job in a nursing facility, and AM, who would like to serve full-time as a fireman, starts applying to local departments. 

Sidebar: In preparation for his move to AZ, I digitized the certifications, statements of training, specialized qualifications, etc. that AM had earned thus far in his career for inclusion with his resume. I think there was something like 93 documents taking four to six hours of work to burn to a CD! The number of certifications earned stunned me. It amazes me to this day. There were significant-achievement certifications in that pile, which, when earned, makes any individual more impressive; earning two makes the person more impressive still. Earning three? That puts you in master land. AM had dozens!

Main thread again: AM is approaching various fire departments with the request that they consider him for their ranks. Remember: 93 attaboys awarded in a wide range of serious human-safety skills, certified scuba diver, cliff-jumping—again certified—maniac with 19 years of EMT experience who also served many years as an officer in a highly-respected community volunteer unit. Despite all of what he would bring to the table, there seemed to be no room in the ins. (Lots of knocking; no responding.)

I came to the conclusion that the people AM petitioned found one certification they didn't care for: his age. (Of course that wasn't it because that would be against the law.) AM was 45 at the time. True, no longer 22 but lean and strong as parachute cord. A sad loss for all those departments. (I may never understand why you wouldn’t want somebody like him around to help assist and protect your community. Over qualified? Say what? How can a person be over qualified in skills devoted to protecting and assisting others of the local community?)

While he’s job hunting, A is doing security work. At this point, I’m not exactly sure of the details of the story so we hereby jump to where he applies to be a member of the city’s police department. Application accepted. Tests, interviews, background checks, references called, all follow. He gets assigned to the police academy on the far side of the state and trains for six (?) months—weekends off but bracketed by four-hour drives and elimination tests every Monday. The police academy is tough place. It has to be. Trainers know the kinds of pressures the candidates will face as cops so they make things tough mentally and physically. It’s a hard to complete the program successfully.

But police officer AM did. Old grandpa AM rode his endurance, drive and experience to the top of his class. (What’s a matter kid, thought the high-school football team made you tough?) Returning to the city PD that sponsored him was not quite as successful, however. AM had all the qualifications and skills, but I get the impression both sides seem to think the temperamental mix might not work. He left the department after a trial period.

Then it finally happened: a good fit came along. AM joined a Native American PD at a reservation, and I believe has since been certified as also being authorized in a wider federal network of some sort. He spends cop time talking to members of the community he patrols, making drug busts, serving on rescue crews, being the K-9 handler, and helping constructively in any way he can.

Which brings us to the crux! AM is exactly the kind of policeman I want in Meland: highly motivated, skills-up-the-wazoo, tough as nails, smart, friendly. Who better to have amongst us trying to ensure our safety? He is the perfect local cop.

As for the more aggressive members of AM’s profession, I try to cut much slack for even “bully” cops. When you throw people into a cesspool of steaming, frequently lethal shit, you can’t expect to tell them “keep your shit together” without some of them going bat shit under the strain. As a result, too many people on too many sides are being killed violently. In the year 2015, mind you!

Bits & Pieces

Kicked to the curb:

Dropped TV show Into the Badlands around 15 minutes into the second episode. Was predisposed to like it but I'm tired of choreographed violence highlighted by graphic slaughter. Real life has given me an aversion to graphic violence. At one time in my life I loved kung fu movies. They were beautiful, lethal ballets. Actually used to travel three hours to a big city to spend all day in Chinatown watching kung fu movies in Chinese with subtitles. (If we were really lucky, the film would be voice-over video. Time gained from not having to read what everybody was saying could then be spent watching out-of-sync characters babble hysterically before, during and after killing one another. Sometimes the disparity between the character on the screen and the voice in your ear was so funny as to provide comedy grafted within drama.) The TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975) was a favorite, too. Badlands' fight scenes were wonderfully fluid but, unfortunately, the fluid was human blood. By the bucket. Given that fight scenes have lost their allure, the show's coffin was nailed shut by comic book-inspired villains (90% the of show's characters), overwrought multitrack plots, and wooden dialogue between carnival acts. True to the spirit of kung fu, I'm walking away from this fight.

Philosophical welders:

A while back (a week?), I brought up a remark made by GOP candidate Marco Rubio about welders versus philosophers. Today I came across an article by Michelle Sowey titled: Teaching philosophy to children? It's a great idea. I found lots of excellent information about children, education, philosophy. Here's one tiny paragraph:

"By setting children on a path of philosophical enquiry early in life, we could offer them irreplaceable gifts: an awareness of life’s moral, aesthetic and political dimensions; the capacity to articulate thoughts clearly and evaluate them honestly; and the confidence to exercise independent judgment and self-correction. What’s more, an early introduction to philosophical dialogue would foster a greater respect for diversity and a deeper empathy for the experiences of others, as well as a crucial understanding of how to use reason to resolve disagreements."

(Damn! That's some powerful writing. A little atom bomb of verbal impact. College professors would wet themselves to be able to "unpack" the information in just that single graph; a paragraph built by two eloquent sentences! ) Think about the graph's huge ideas and lofty goals, then look around. Early education pleasing you? Any level of education satisfying you? Are we educating our young effectively? Maybe less Common Core and more Central Core? I think every school could use a philosopher in its ranks. Good for the students, good for the staff, good for the parents. (Except those who do not want children of independent judgment or self-correction.)

(To my educator friends I say you will love the result of having philosophy classes even at the elementary school level. Classes of young philosophers will be funny as all get-out. Guaranteed. You will like children—other people's—again.)

All for it:

I'm all for anything that makes fun of the rabid Westboro Baptist Church. This was put onto Reddit by perc10 --

(I should link you to this item over onto Reddit itself, but don't know how to do that yet. You should check out Reddit.com)

Piffle. End of week.

Relieved that Louisiana voters turned away from wanna-be governor David Vitter. So tired of preachy, finger-pointing politicians like him who go down in flaming scandals only to come back later claiming that Jesus redeemed their sins and blessed them with forgiveness. Same for that crowd of philandering pastors who litter the landscape. Their declarations of redemption granted confuse me because nothing ever presented to me indicated Jesus was easily fooled, so perhaps the redemption they feel has more to do with their boys-will-be-boys attitudes than anything Jesus saw fit to get involved with. Of course, I can't speak for Jesus either but I am comforted that Vitter is no more. One less slippery spot on the political linoleum.

Rant:

I thought my state's law was that if you ran a car's windshield wiper you had to turn on the headlights. Not so, BUT ...

** State **  law does not link the display of headlights to windshield wiper use. Instead, it requires a motor vehicle to display its headlights and other required lighting devices (1) from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, (2) at any time when, due to insufficient light or unfavorable atmospheric conditions, people or vehicles are not clearly discernable at a distance of 500 feet, or (3) during any period of precipitation such as rain, snow, or fog.

Folks, when you ride in a silver car, on silver-slicked wet roads, winding through gray trees, through patches of silvery fog, remember, YOU'RE HARD TO SEE! Your headlights might save your life or that of someone else. Just saying. (And I promise to be sure to put my lights on when it rains. I will really, really try.)

Find of the day on the Net:

"Creatures of the deep (12 photos)

Underwater photographer Alexander Semenovs has snapped some of the most stunning, fragile life forms anywhere on planet Earth. Shot in deep, dark conditions, the images continue to provide an insight into what lies beneath, with glowing creatures appearing a lot like aliens in the pitch-black…

Yahoo News"

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

This is one of his pictures. I included the Shakespeare. (Hoping photo inclusion here covered under fair use act.) Looks like a living  spaceship floating in a void to me but it could be anything from a microscopic alien redneck to a silicon sex toy for robotic giants. There's no scale. Flippancy aside, the image is stunning. Mr. Semenovs is apparently extremely talented and works in dimensions few people even know exists. Check out the other photos in his work.

Bam! That did it! Where's that damn soapbox when I need it? Oops. There it is. Right under my feet as always. I must not get off. Do I not? (Data needed.)

If the Emperor of Meland had any influence at all, he would approach the Mr. Semenovs of the world and say: "Look, you have the ability to find the invisible by knowing where and how to look. You are showing the wide range of life we don't even yet know about, and that teaches us more about our supremely complex reality. Mankind needs that ability to think outside the box, to look for things where nobody has looked before, or to look at the same things in different ways. Society will pay you to teach your skill to others. (Actual number to be case specific.) You tell us your needs in an apprentice and we will recruit individuals who meet those needs, starting with people trapped in urban environments. We will pay those individuals to learn from you. Then off you go. Keep us apprised of what you discover.

How is Meland going to pay for all this as a society? Perhaps one less over-inflated celebrity salary? One less outrageously-priced political speech?

How about this: "JPMorgan Chase is keeping the compensation of its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, flat at $20 million, according to a regulatory filing, after he helped steer the bank through a tumultuous year. But Mr. Dimon is receiving $7.4 million of his pay in easier-to-access cash after receiving his entire bonus in restricted stock last year." (To quote DealBook of the New York Times.)

This is making me cry. Poor guy has to put on his big-boy pants because the board is keeping his compensation flat. $7.4 million is easier-to-access cash?????? $20 million in a year total, for a banker, who "helped steer the bank through a tumultuous year," AFTER, I point out, he drove it into that tumultuousness in the first place! 

The Emperor of Meland frowns on those who are rewarded on grand scales despite demonstrable failure. 

Quietly watching developments with the terrorists. While cruising news info, came across a short, verbal editorial about that subject delivered by BBC anchor Andrew Neil on the show This Week. It must be our common cause, our battle cry. Google Andrew Neil Rant. He nails it.

Disgusted at what humans do to humans, I once again long for the day when I can be transferred to digital form. Been uncomfortable in this body much of my life so I won't be missing much. Once digital, I expect I will be integrated within a protective shell capable of neutralizing the hazards of deep space.

We need to get off this planet. We need a quest for more resources to find and use. We need elbow room. We have to stop killing one another over space and/or ideas. We need to realize that we are closer to any human being—no matter color or beliefs—than we are to things of non-earth origin.

Is it time to start getting ready for the transition? (Consider on regular basis? An index in the virtual library? I’ll call it: Things I will do when digital.)

An idea that popped into mind as a result of reading about brown dwarf stars:

I would get educated to understand infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. I imagine that could take considerable time but digital me has possible eons to learn if needed. I will then outfit my machined exoskeleton with infrared sensors. (I envision a central unit of near indestructible material housing the intellect surrounded by any variety of machines, each designed for specific environments. In space, size won’t be limited so just add the pieces (functions) we want—giant physical subroutines. Some function-units—like propulsion systems—could be building size.) I would use my new knowledge and my infrared array to go off to learn about brown dwarf stars and roles they play in the grand scheme of things.

Not sure why, really. Seems like it could be interesting to experience something that at “dwarf” status is still 15 percent bigger than Jupiter and up to 75 times heavier. That’s one heck of a dwarf. What will it be like to hang relatively close to one of these monsters and watch it rotate? What will I hear if I tune my electromagnetic wave scope to sound-wave frequencies? Will I be able to see theorized rainstorms of molten iron? (Going to need a way to extend vision by many orders of magnitude.)

Scientists say brown dwarfs abound so let’s start finding them. Where are they and what are they doing? I’ll bet we have young PhDs who are looking right now but it is still so early in the gaining-basic-knowledge phase that there’s room for everybody who wants to look.

I know equipment that I’ll be wanting to add to myself—a digital snail hiding in a shell—but this leaves the question as to how upgrading will be achieved. How will the equipment be funded? How will I be paying for the upgrades? Seems likely that just like today everybody will choose his or her own way to pay: cash in some stocks, sell a house, even funding sites like Kick Starter. As a digital entity, I will have no need for most of the physical assets I now have so that will be transformed into cash. (We will consider digital backup later.)

Maybe my path to achieving a voyage through the cosmos, will be to start by being a mining freighter. Retrieve asteroid of valuable metal and sell for upgrade to even bigger machine with greater capabilities. Upgrade until me/ship attains self-sufficiency. Branch out from mining to exploration and resource assessment.

Pretty decent day. Took mom to visit her convalescing sister-in-law then grocery shopping and successful shawl-pattern hunting.

This evening turned out to be a revelation. I discovered the TV programs Breakthrough, and, almost simultaneously, The Brain With David Eagleman. Ha! These shows about the human brain will melt your brain.

Hypothesis Sidebar

Most of the universe that I think I see/experience is electromagnetic energy in one form or another. Everything. From quarks to nuclei, electrons, molecules, cells, people as a whole, planets, stars, galaxies, and so on. All of it is electromagnetic energy in a myriad of forms. (All of this mind you is being perceived/influenced by some other form of electromagnetic energy. Me. How awesome is that? How is this happening? Emergence? (Been running into that idea more lately.) Precipitation of distinct energy configurations following laws we don't know about into what's around us?

Does looking at reality as electromagnetic energies get us anywhere? Absolutely yes because it makes us question our assurance as to what is. The electricity flowing physically in this room—from TV to computer, to couple of lamps, DVR, shredder, etc—is a pretty close-to unique energy configuration. Not necessarily absolutely unique configuration, but very specific. (Measurable, quantifiable) On another hand, the desk on which one can see proof of this electron flow, is another form of energy. It looks different but it is just as valid a form of energy as the electricity. (Measurable, quantifiable) There's some kind of unobvious relationship between those systems; some underlying mathematical connection. Unfortunately, I will never know that math that leads to that relationship.

Can our current perceptions of "reality" be changed so that we can bend new insights to humankind's advantage? Give us finer command over an ever-increasing physical environment? When we look at the universe with varying instruments we get different pictures. We ask different questions.

For instance: Is the phenomenon of war a demonstrable energy configuration? Can't somebody really smart calculate the dynamics of such a physical system so that effective counter energies can be devised? (See kids, this is why math was (and still is) important. Learn it. It gives you the ability to chip out the numbers that somehow reflect the reality all around you. Numbers can show the links. You'll know how to find them and not wind up being an old poseur like me. Sidebar Insert: If you want to benefit mankind, encourage every young human with whom you interact to cultivate an interest in math. It's one of the real biggies in terms of things important in man's continuation.)

Wow, that took a left turn.

Tonight I will lay my head to rest with some comfort. Despite my fear of the unknown when contemplating being afloat in a roiling reality of energy forms, new knowledge once again blessed my own personal energy flow. I was energized see that Bobbi Jindal of Louisiana withdrew from the Republican nomination. Very Glad. Don't care for the way he treats everything around him. Especially his relation to women.

I will also rest my head with some amusement after reading:

Ted Cruz says facing down ‘hostile’ CNBC debate moderators makes him qualified to be president

Really? When your measure of toughness in a lethal universe is facing down a hostile debate moderator, I'm declaring you unfit for the job of president. I willingly acknowledge there are far more than two perceptions of this situation but here are two that I'm trying to resolve. In one view I'm shaking my head and smiling at the hyperbolic absurdity of that statement. It's TV comedy. It is laughable proof  of the absurdity of life. In my second view, I am crying—sobbing uncontrollably, truth be told—in recognition of how awful our political system has become.