First Blog

To which or not to witch, that is the question. Which rich witch while running across the pitch and jumping a ditch to get hitched, suffered a twitch caused by an itch due to a bad stitch found a glitch in her pitch to switch and then snitch on another witch, you know the one with fetish to enrich but preferred her ham sandwich? Can't be too many if these. :)

Scott Walker.  Another order of toast has been served in the form of Scott Walker, who suspended his campaign yesterday. Both Perry and Walker, successful governors of their respective states, are now gone.   If we are following governors we would expect to see Huckabee, Jindal, and Pataki  withdraw in the near term.  Governors have the tremendous advantages of needing to work within a state system, and without the option of deficit spending.  Governors usually have the record of working successfully with the opposition, a skill diminished and even deprecated  in recent years. This would be a shame for the alternatives will become outsiders and insiders - plus the remaining governors.   All those still in the game have their own calculus on who they want in and who should go.  The remaining governors no doubt celebrate the Walker exit, though lauding his experiential excellence - whatever that means.  I suggest that for some candidates, the rise of Trump, Fiorina, and Carson will s

Dangerous Quotes – the talking points of our world. Many if not most Americans are moved by quotes, in fact simple quotes.   Here are three that may resonate. What’s good for General Motors is good for the country. Power to the people. In God’s name … (fill it in) Today we consider a quote from Cervantes’ Don Quixote . “ When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”   Persuasive? Yes.   Articulate? Yes. Simple? Yes. Accurate?   Well, maybe but…   It is completely open ended, without any indication of what “should be”   should be.   It leaves to the reader the full imagination of possible worlds that could be.   It is attractive to a spectrum of opinion.   The most ardent Nazi and most dedicated Communist can both rally around. This is one problem today in the USA and

I love toast, with butter, jam, cream cheese, even peanut butter. Gimme toast in the morning.  Yes! But "toast" has a political meaning which when applied to some candidate it implies this person is history (another great term now deprecated by toast) in the hunt for electoral victory. So in politics today, we have our first order on the table. Rick Perry is toast. Other Republicans are in the toaster, perhaps including Lindsay Graham, Jim Gilmore, George Pataki,  Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum. With more toaster room available, possibly Scott Walker may jump in, though he is as feisty as anyone in the field. On the Democratic side with far fewer candidates, Martin O'Malley is toast, though only he doesn't yet know it.  Jim Webb is in the toaster, and maybe Hillary Clinton is drifting that way. I wonder about Hillary though, and why she drifts down.  Except for her colossal misjudgments, could it be that she encouraged the self-promoted moniker "inevitable

There is a problem in Kentucky. There is a problem in San Francisco. There is a problem in GITMO, the Guantanamo Bay facility, housing Islamic terrorists.  For the first, a county clerk refuses to issue marriage licenses to gays. She faces a judge on a contempt of court citation, and with that possible jail time.  For the second, illegals are being released even if they are felons. It seems clear that sanctuary city San Francisco citizens are more far tolerant of criminals than most other cities.  For the third, there is the question of what to do with inmates under the Administration desire to close the GITMO facility. So, we have the situation where a person acting on conscious and harming no one faces the full force of the law including jail, where wanted felons are released from custody as a matter of city policy, and where we do have dangerous people needing housing - but not in Cuba. Resolutions: The poor woman in Kentucky is toast, done in by the law and the ACLU.

Lots of help is available for keeping your brain healthy and sharp. Below are the tips from two websites – brief version. All have merit. Go to the sites for details. Here is the first block of seven tips. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249752 1. Play a musical instrument. 2. Read anything. 3. Exercise regularly. 4. Learn a new language.  5. Test your cumulative learning. 6. Work out your brain, e.g games. 7. Meditate.  At another website we gain more tips, this time numbering eight. http://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/1011439-8-ways-keep-brain-sharp-age 1. Learn Something New and Complex. 2. Re-Train Your Body. 3. Practice Public Speaking. 4. Use Two Senses Together. 5. Flex Your Short- and Long-Term Memory. 6. Connect and Be Affectionate. 7. Declutter Your Brain. 8. Get Treatment if Necessary. All of these have value. In both sets there is commonality. Extras: Note the overlap and possible recast of some of the above a. Get enough sleep. b. Don’t dwe

The four modes of the washing machine: load, wash, drain, and spin. The analogy to modern life is unmistakable. Right now... This country is in its spin cycle.  Good or bad, we accept or reject premises but cannot change them.  When evidence is found for, detractors reject. When evidence is found against, detractors reject. It goes round and round. It NEVER stops. The "double down" option, these days the only option, confirms the spin cycle.  It merely increases the rate. Whatever you say or believe is subject to spin, your spin, their spin, or someone's spin. It is the Descartes' vortex of opinion, the black hole of views.  You can only be sucked in, further and further and further. There is no graceful exit from the spin.  While in this cycle you get dizzy but yet delirious.  Your best judgments are suspended. Your common sense is distorted. Your very flesh is twisted to conform to the spin's angular momentum. Truth is just one causality of the spin.

Most of us know of Charlton Heston as an excellent actor, with spectaculars such as Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments in his filmography. However, he did more, much more.  Let me highlight his contributions to philosophy, as a performer.  In the series of audiobooks, The Giants of Philosophy , he recorded many years ago, he took on a task no other top movie star has ever attempted that being to bring serious philosophy to the masses.  These books are well produced and include segments on Kant, Aristotle, Spinoza, Hegel, and many others.  Most run two hours or more.  Not only that they are available on YouTube.  Free.  Check them out.  You will not be disappointed.

Homework 101  - Run for president of the USA Really?  Of course not.  But everyone should write their speech of what they have to offer, of what they stand for, and of why others should cast their vote in your favor. You can mention your family values, religious values, philosophical ideas, what the public means in your life, and all the rest.  You can invoke your party, your beliefs, your convictions, and your humor.  You should state what you have done, how you have led, and how you wish to lead your country and the world. You should express your big ideas, bold ideas, new ideas, the wrong ideas, and all ideas which comprise your vision. With your speech you have created your vision for America.  With your speech you can compare your vision as compared with what is offered by opponents. Only when you impress your ideas on paper can you know in your heart what you wish for, hope for, and what you demand for your country. This is your homework assignment.

The talking points nation.   We are faced with a huge population whose knowledge base, whose opinions, and whose operational guidelines are contained within a few sheets of talking points . Information is exchanged via talking points, and knowledge is conceived through talking points.   Sure, there is the talking points exchange from time to time, wherein some points are replaced by others, but the total number is conserved.   It is akin to the Malthusian, wherein when the number of talking points exceeds capacity to absorb there results a diminution and constriction of the whole.   Definitely not gestalt.  This may, under the most generous interpretation, be a consequence of modern information overload, dissembled national viewpoints, or highly crafted antipodal positions.   With less generosity it may be more simply disinterest, preoccupation, or depth of understanding, all as promoted by our schools. Political demagoguery is paramount in their creation of talking points

The other day while I was listening to a radio show, an advertiser boasted their underwear would make me twice or three times as cool.  Sounds great BUT what does this mean?  Nada.   We have here a mix of the quantitative with the qualitative – seemingly a trend in the misconception of terms.    The new (false) math applies multiples to qualitative objects.  Twice as cool.  Twice as hot. Double your happiness. Ten percent of your brain power.  Loving you three times as much… Dress up your claim with math, and you convince the ignorant.  That so many use these false math claims are made indicates a profound ignorance or misunderstanding of the listening public. Google almost anything and you will get hits.  Google any multiples of anything and get hits again.  Some examples: Double your love life; Triple your risk; Quadruple your happiness – wow!  Can you really "double your pleasure, double your fun," by chewing Double Mint Gum?   Are our students given to doublin