Every day I read comments by atheists or “secular humanists” ridiculing the religious. And yet those who belittle the notion of “an invisible, bearded old man in the sky” tend to have a fanatically religious reverence for government. Yes, people come to my door trying to convert me to their religion. But at least they…
Caffeine withdrawal makes you stupid
July 14, 2014
I can’t think right now. All I can do is sit and stare blankly. Caffeine withdrawal makes you stupid. Throw in stress and rotational vertigo attacks, and you have complete mental disability. Writing is beyond my capabilities right now, so we’ll go audio-visual. I took this photo a few hours ago, as I wandered aimlessly…
Everyday berserkery
July 13, 2014
At some point I wanted to finish a book titled Assault Troops of World War I: the Central, Allied, and Neutral Powers. I may get to it eventually, but for now I’ve totally lost interest. The everyday berserkery of people interested in military matters has drained me of my enthusiasm. It’s a bad day. I’m…
Do you have a price?
July 9, 2014
In the last year of my mother’s life, we talked a lot about the state of the world. Mom was born in 1928. Can you conceive the changes she saw in her eighty-five years? She asked me over and over why people did the things they did, and I told her that it was because…
Monkeyshines
July 8, 2014
I’ve always loved the word “monkeyshines.” To me it brings to mind disreputable incompetence. Clowns behaving badly. I discovered today that the word first appears in 1828 in a song called “Jump Jim Crow.” The song was popularized by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, who performed in blackface as Jim Crow. Apparently there was a real…
Crazy, lying, violent, old racists who hate everybody
July 6, 2014
There’s a tiny, irrelevant newspaper called the WestView News. It claims it’s the “voice of the West Village.” If so, the West Village is full of crazy, lying, violent old racists who hate everybody. The publisher of the WestView News is a demented, savage octogenarian named George Capsis. He keeps assaulting people in public. In…
The Internet of things
July 5, 2014
A while back I learned a new phrase: “the Internet of things.” Here’s the actual definition. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a scenario in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the…
Time for nationwide psychiatric intervention
July 1, 2014
The past couple of days have been truly astonishing. I’ve never seen so many people lose their minds in concert. What we need is nationwide psychiatric intervention. I’m talking, of course, about Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human services et al v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., et al. We’re perilously close to collapse as a…
Which is alienating to you, virtuosity or mediocrity?
June 30, 2014
At a Website run by a conservative Christian guy I know, one of the ads was titled “Celebrities Who Go Topless for the Sake of Art.” Of course I had to click the link, being a fan of both toplessness and art. The Web page was interesting for lots of reasons, the main one being…