Funky

Two art critics in the 1950-60's almost destroyed 'Art.' Rosenberg and Greenberg shaped artistic endeavors during this time with their 'criticisms' and letters. The result was Minimalism, Structuralism, Conceptualism, and later, Post-Modernism, episodes of semi-creativity that were (are) overrated. The reason we should have never moved so far away from Expressionism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism is this: we have not learned our lessons yet!.... Although the above critics were aided by the false French intellectual tradition of the time - Baudrillard, Foucault, and that monster of deception, Derrida- they still bear most of the responsibility. All around me i see evidence of degenerate efforts... our real knowledge of light, color, and the primitive unconsciousness has certainly faded.

(Or at least is not where is should be).

Either or Aether ?

Einstein's reputation might not survive this decade. A cloud of suspicion hangs over his theories- Lorentz knew a basic outline of relativity before 1905, and its possible Einstein got his ideas from Poincaire and/or Hilbert, as his job as a patent agent allowed him access to their speculations. More serious than plagiarism, Relativity could be completely wrong. Some recent studies suggest the speed of light is not constant, there are problems with the methodology of the Michelson-Morley experiments, and his fudge-factor might be the best work he ever did, but was dismissed as a mistake. Gravity issues continue to present problems, and the big bang hypothesis has generated so much confused ideation it might turn out to be just a big bag of gas (sorry). Quantum theory contradicts Relativity on many points, while scientific orthodoxy continues to cling to their faith in Einstein's ideas with the ardor of martrys.

(I have always felt that the Pauli exclusion principle ought to be considered a force of nature, but thats just me).

Relativity was added to account for Lorentz's discoveries, but a simpler explanation can be derived by using the modified Aether theory. There is no need to wed space to time; a non-counterintuitive grid can be made to work just as well. Einstein's thought presents too many paradoxes, which means there is something wrong with the theory, apart from the gathering empirical evidence against it.

The equal protection clause, or singling out prohibition,

The landlord-rent system is intrinsically unjust. Generally, the 'owner' makes money off of something he possesses, instead of earning money from something he does. This was one of the triggers of the Russian Revolution....
Unearned income is condemned in the worlds great religious systems- the Koran forbids usury, Mennonites and Quakers are not allowed to invest in the stock market...Money chasing after money has made monkeys of us all....When Jesus said render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, he was being sarcastic. Nothing belongs to Caesar.

The ancient Celts practiced girth control. If a tribal member was deemed too fat, they were taxed. An idea whose time has come.

Legend of Shamballah could tie in with a certain Hopi myth. Which world are what creatures emerging (entering?) out of?

Halliburton profits are up over 3,000 percent this year, while the White House -directed Congress refuses to increase minimum wage.

President Harry Truman equated war profiteering with treason.


Americans vote for oil barons for leaders, then the price of gasoline soars.....

A few critically endangered animals: the Snow Leopard (about 3,000 remain)
Hawksbill turtle ( numbers down about 80% since 1900,
could go extinct in about 5-20 years)
the Javan rhino ( only 60 remain)
Oryx antelope (generally extinct in the wild)


The world would be a better place if American forces redeployed out of the Middle East and became anti-poaching squads around the world.

"Remember, even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat." - Rev. Sloan Coffin

Ultimate Walkabout

Marco Polo was upstaged. In the mid 1300's a Morrocan muslim named Ibn Battuta probably made the longest trek in history. He went across the Sahara to Mali and Timbuktu, made his way to Egypt, Turkey, the Crimea, then on to Iran and India. He sailed to the Maldives islands, where he took four wives. Then he went to Borneo and China, and returned to India....sometimes he doubled back to revist nearby places.... for over 80,000 miles and 24 years he travelled. Back home, his Grand Vizier made him dictate his tale to a scibe, so today we can read about his epic journey.

During the Gulf War we officially lost about 500 soldiers or so, but since then about 15,000 Gulf War vets have died from 'exposures.' Another 200,000 are permenently disabled. The use of depleted uranium (DU) and the administration of experimental vaccines seems to be the main culprits. The Pentagon and the White House are aware of the dangers, but continue to use DU anyway, because its inexpensive. So much DU has been used for the Iraq War that some observers think the war should be called a nuclear one....I wrote Senator Allen a letter about this issue, signing it 'Rev. Buck Neekid.' About a month later i recieved a reply from the senators office, addressed to 'Rev. Neekid.' Allen thanked me for alerting him to the DU issue....I hope he was feigning ignorance about the extent of the problem.... he wants to become our Prez. Depleted Uranium is drifting across the ocean, and is suspected in many new cases of lung cancer stateside.....

Thirteen families control the worlds major banks. They hold only about 3-5% of the reserves needed to cover their activities- so they loan out non-existent money and collect profits off this imaginary lucre, while ordinary people are crushed beneath the debt burden of trying to repay interest and money that never was....

The cornerstone of the American economy -when Congress takes your tax dollars and awards contract to the arms industry. Defense spending= military Keynsianism. It ended the Great Depression.( The New Deal softened the blow, but ultimately did not work) .

Too much or not enough?

The coral reefs have largely bleached out, the oceans are too warm, too polluted ...large predator fish stocks are down about 90%....

Melting ice on Greenland is slamming into the Labrador current, altering salinity and temperature-the Gulf Stream is slowing (about 1/3 already), and may stop sometime this century, plunging the entire northern hemisphere into a deep freeze. Senior Pentagon officials think climate change is more of a threat to national security than any 'terrorism'....(Our nation could succumb to morbid obesity in less than three generations, but that's another story) .

Global warming could have natural causes ...The Earth periodically goes through warming and cooling cycles- the Earths core could be heating up, or the Sun could be burning extra hot gases towards us... Cosmic rays might influence weather too (they help drive evolution by re-arranging DNA) . But man has to be having some impact upon the climate, even if its minor. We are causing thousands of necessary species to go extinct, we our fouling the air and water beyond healthy limits, the oceans might already be mortally wounded... The surface of the land is ravaged and barren ....We have too many people, too little proper planning, too few good people, or some combination of the three.....

In 'No Exit,' Sartre declared "Hell is other people." I do not take such a grim view; people can be heaven as well as hell. A movie i saw once says it better- hell is a life gone wrong.

Obey

When people are asked if they are 'conservative,' most say they are. But when you ask people if they want higher wages for the working class, stronger environmental protection laws, some form of single payer universal health care system, and less corporate control, most -about 80%- also say they support these measures....then these same people often go out and vote for someone who is opposed to what they support...in psychology this is called cognitive dissonance. This untreated illness in society could cause our doom...

A related issue-people don't want to admit they were wrong, that they were pathetically stupid for most of their life, so they often persist in their ignorance, ignoring the evidence of their errors-consequently we all suffer.

A slavish, uncritical loyalty to authority often stems from Freudian mechanisms... "A man who hates his father will soon lose his patriotism."...

the red lights turn blue, then flicker out....

The vision of the two Paolo's-Gaviotas and ...

Scientists can make a new bladder from a few cells, transplant tongues and hands, give people new faces...and send space probes to Mars and beyond; but people can't devise good government....?

Since scientists say time travel is at least theoretically possible, maybe we need laws prohibiting any 'future' time travel...