Insect Perspectives

August 7, 2023 11:59pm

An insect hurries on a mission unknown to me. I watch aware that this creature has no way to even conceive of a creature like me – watching his every move from above and wondering why he hurries so frantically. Looking up, I consider whether another consciousness watches me the same way and he perhaps looks up from me to his sky wondering the same thing. Where does it end? We don’t know.

A family reunion today brought together three remaining siblings from a couple who lived and farmed near Gravel Switch, KY. They raised seven children whose descendants gathered for this annual event. Some were present for the first time. Our own granddaughter making her debut and a grandson of a deceased cousin bearing an uncanny resemblance to his grandfather. I learned that another cousin had lived in a house that I had known as another uncle’s (one still living). So, an older uncle had lived there with his young family before my time of memories. I talked to my mother about this and she told me that her sister and her husband had also lived in that house for a short time. It seems my grandfather owned this adjacent farm and allowed two of his children to live there before selling it to a third child…..the uncle I remember living there. My mother concluded this family tale by informing me that there is much about my family that I don’t know.

Yes, it is true, there is much about everything I don’t know…..like, for example, is someone watching all this from a perch I cannot fathom? I hurry on frantically, waving my antennae but detect nothing.

Greed and Revolution

August 9, 2023 6:51pm

The masses fall prey to the seduction of the rich and powerful who promote illusions of nationalism, sacrifice, and entertainment to distract the populace from the real problems that afflict them. Revolutionaries rise up to confront this greed and to regain some of the wealth that flows ever upward to those who do little to earn it. Marxism, communism, and socialism are the natural reactions to the accumulation of resources, power, and wealth by corporations, governments, and wealthy individuals. Where fairness and justice prevail in a compassionate capitalism, there are no revolutions. We foment our own destruction with our lust for power and money.

The tide always turns and the common people who do the work eventually recognize they have been the pawns of the elite. Then, the revolutionaries- the Che’s, the Lenin’s, the Ho Che Minh’s, emerge to bring balance to a faltering world. There need be no revolution when people love their neighbor as themselves.

Che, Butler, United Fruit

August 10, 2023 10:56am

I am reading about the life of Ernesto “Che” Guevara and ran across this quote about him:

“to those who will never follow in his footsteps, submerged as they are in a world of cynicism, self-interest and frantic consumption, nothing could be more vicariously gratifying than Che’s disdain for material comfort and everyday desires.” – Ariel Dorfman

And I note the role of the United Fruit Company in the imperialistic goals of the United States in Central and South America and recognize that we create our enemies wherever we go. The grasping, greedy actions of the United Fruit Company helped to radicalize Che and I wonder what Smedley Butler would have thought of Guevara?

Guatemala eventually nationalized 225,000 acres belonging to the United Fruit Company as restitution. This prompted a CIA orchestrated coup which sought to roll back the land reforms and break the labor unions. Some leaders were executed. Che wrote this:

“The last Latin American revolutionary democracy…. failed as a result of …aggression carried out by the United States. Its visible head was the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a man who, through a rare coincidence, was also a stockholder and attorney for the United Fruit Company.

Sojourn in Carcosa

August 16, 2023 9:21am

An experiment…..

Sojourn in Carcosa. The ancient ruin, the destiny of all. Pillars, arches, tympana – now rubble, reminder of empire’s excess. Wandering wraith wondering why the lords of the land let her languish so long. Fertile fields, fulsome fisheries finally failed. The icons of industry inveigle the innocent, importune the impatient. Now, quiet solitude and mist settles over the place, a testament to a remarkable time – now lost.

Geometric Matter

August 18, 2023 12:19am

Today I am 68.

Matter is analogous to a box of baby toys – geometric shapes that fit together. Shake the box and the pieces eventually find their match and create another, different structure. With the passage of time, these building blocks form elaborate structures that are controlled by other blocks that demand behaviors to ensure the existence of the complexity that has been wrought. We assign these behaviors spiritual labels – some we call evil, but they are only the result of the way the blocks come together. Some organisms with aggressive blocks compel lesser organisms to submit to their power, which manifests as control of males or forced sexual submission of females. All that we call evil is the expression of this will to power.

Limits to technological advances would mean that regardless of the age of a civilization, it will never escape its home planet. That is, if we can never exceed light speed, we’ll never inhabit other worlds. If we can never detect obstacles with a vision that exceeds our velocity, we cannot avoid collisions. These limits may well exist, and they will ensure that we do not exceed our bounds. Lowered expectations then, right? What if there are no scientific advances in our future and we use up all the available resources and revert to an earlier standard of living compatible with sustainable biofuels. What if we’re already past our peak?

Decisions, Decisions…….

August 23, 2023 8:09pm

Presidential debate tonight (GOP). Trump is not participating. Giuliani surrenders to Georgia authorities today in Trump election case.

Any decision you make is fraught with uncertainty. The more equally opinions are divided, the more likely you will be on the wrong side of the question. Trump or Biden, stocks or bonds, God or no God, marry or single, this job or that, climate change or not, battery powered car or gas?

The list is endless. The opportunities for error – infinite. Think of all the people who put all their eggs in one basket only to find out later their only meal is an omelet. Did you back the wrong historic figure, the wrong electrical system, were you a supporter of VHS or Betamax? Ever own an 8-track? Did you secretly cling to token ring long after ethernet won? Escape from Jonestown before the big day? Did you take (or fail to take) a covid vaccine?

Yep, the market is filled with opportunities for you to screw up. Were you a sycophant of Marx, Lennin, or Mao? Did you decide to keep your birth gender? Among the young, fully 30% now think that gender is a construct, so this question is approaching even money – better reconsider before you live a lie!

Think about the faithful who embraced the wrong religion or the wrong God – there have been thousands of each. Easy to pick one, live as a disciple and find upon death that you messed up.

So, what is an insane person to do in this sanitarium? Simple – don’t make any decisions…. you’ll beat the odds.

The Madness of Water Maintenance

August 28, 2023 8:57pm

At 4AM, we rose to sail upon Lake Michigan and see the sun rise. Calm winds required the engine, but we were a couple of miles off Lake Shore Drive when the sun rose. I heard the music from Lawrence of Arabia and then…. it was if someone switched on a flashlight. The tiniest single ray racing over the water’s surface to illuminate a 30-foot sailboat alone in calm waters off of the Chicago Shore. We managed to get a little wind and made it out to one of the water intake installations. We were informed that a century before, men lived on these tiny lighthouse-like structures all winter to ensure that water was available to the city. One frozen winter, horses stood on the ice after bringing provisions and coal from the needy city of big shoulders. There are photos to prove this!

What incredible madness must have tempted the keepers of the water-intake installations through the long Lake Michigan winters? The same madness that calls to all.