A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
An ancient Czech curse: Occupy my mind with interesting concepts.
The hopelessness of audacity and change that we once believed in.
There is something fundamentally wrong with a one billion dollar re-election war chest.
REMIND ME, WHY CHANGE?
QQ : 1 POCKET CHANGE
Perhaps the only certainty in the universe is the inevitability of change.
A vision of hell might be a state in which nothing ever changes through all eternity.
The implication being that change is good. Un-change, not good.
I would rather not dwell in hell for all of eternity. Change away!
QQ : 2 THE MONEY CHANGERS :
Jesus threw the money-changers out of the Temple grounds. His primary message of love and forgiveness however, was subsequently distorted by his followers for the next 2000 years.
If the ‘End Times’, upon his return, signify the end of change; would this be a good thing? See QQ : 1
QQ : 3 BROTHER, COULD YOU SPARE SOME CHANGE?
Keynsian economics is so out of fashion amongst the political clowns waiting in the wings for 2012.
I imagine that these economic geniuses are advocating pan-handling as a career choice.
OWS (Occupy) is all about those lazy unwashed, unemployed hippies who haven’t made the effort, according to Cain-sian economic theory.
This visionary, this mental wizard, this forward-thinking, cultural guru obviously has the answer. Herman can change history.
Beyond that, I would like to volunteer my services to cleanse another advocate of political bathing deserving of a golden shower, the honorable, non-lobbyist and uber-mentsch of morality,
Newtie Grinch-Grinch.
QQ : 4 TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
Fukujima, Three- Mile Island, Chernobyl, Love Canal and Minamata are products of the new industrial revolution.
Why did they fail?
Corporate corruption, mismanagement and greed are not accidents.
Follow the money.
Is the cost of these events offset by the benefits of technological change?
Could it be a neutral exchange? Fukujima may never recover.
QQ : 5 CH CH CH CHANGES
Bye Bye Miss American Pie; the day the music died was the day it was digitized.
16 bit 44.1k is a cold medium. MP3s are a cold medium.
There is hot media and there is cold media, based on the response at the most fundamental depth of the human condition.
We are primitive beings. Our essential primitivism remains unchanged.
We need heat, emotional heat.
Give me a hug!
QQ : 6 CHANGE OF LIFE
There are few absolutes. Change of life is one of them.
I, myself am in an acute state of Meno-Porsche.
I’m fairly sure a classic 1958 Speedster could see me through the rough patches.
QQ : 7 CLIMATE CHANGE:
What an odd term.
"Climate change" seems like a rather innocent, innocuous phrase.
The term has no positive or negative implication. It just refers to change.
The political pretenders waiting in the wings for 2012 of course have a deep, highly evolved and educated view regarding the causes of this change.
According to the Politi-clowns, it is cyclic change
According to the Greens, it's cow-fart change
Then again, the hole in the ozone layer above the Southern hemisphere must be a construct of Liberals and left-wing conspirators.
The fact that it is triggering fundamental cellular change is simply bad luck.
Did anyone bring sunscreen?
QQ : 8 CHANGE YOUR LUCK
"Change your place, change your luck"
I guess - what -an environmental shelter?
QQ : 9 CHANGE WORTH PURSUING
The de-monetization of Congress.
The elimination of corporate election financing.
Environmental restoration.
Perhaps there are cultural and societal parallels to environmental restoration.
We pollute and then we restore.
Sometimes, a change back from the brink is worth some consideration. Change, like technology is not "good" by definition.
Change is neutral, though inevitable. However, the quality of change is worth considering.
Sometimes, it is within our control.
Windmills are pretty ancient technology. Eat locally grown, rotate the crops, ride a bike, meditate, listen to live music, restore the Rainforest and the Everglades and the Watersheds.
Restore civility and compassion, and that Jesus thing : love and forgiveness.
QQ : 10 CHANGE PRIORITIES:
Define who the enemy is not.
Teachers are not the enemy.
Artists, poets, writers, painters and musicians are not the enemy.
QQ : 11 EXCHANGE RATE
What will the Drachma be worth?
Perhaps we can revive the science of alchemy and change lead into gold.
If Greece reverts to the Drachma, the likely result will be where a wheelbarrow full of paper money will not buy a piece of pita.
Social unrest, deprivation of the poorest coupled with and a new cycle of change in Europe, could unleash an out-of control- chain of events that are destined to repeat history.
Can we change history? Perhaps not, but we should learn from it, in order that we may not repeat it.
Although change is inevitable, sometimes... we have choices.
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Tuesday 15 November 2011
QQ : NUMBER SIXTEEN - November 15, 2011
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
QQ : 1 ALGORITHMS AND BLUES
Zuckerface said , ‘A Squirrel Dying In Your Front Yard May Be More Relevant To Your Interests Right Now Than People Dying In Africa’”
When algorithms define our individual reality; and those algorithms dictate our exposure to content based on our behavior; then the end result is a downward spiral. We do not necessarily behave well.
As we react to this algorithmic ‘democracy,’ the level of our exposure to a diminishing universe becomes more and more closed in. We narrow our scope, and ultimately behave and react accordingly.
As our universe becomes smaller and smaller, culture and ultimately society and civilization, follow a negative path and we are sucked down the drain to ultimate destruction.
There should be a law.
QQ : 2 QAPEK’S LAW OF A SHRINKING UNIVERSE
Human society will collapse in direct proportion to the degree that algorithms increasingly narrow our individual universe.
This process has collapsed the recorded music industry, the newspaper and magazine industry and network television. These are the lesser evils.
This process has put blinders on the political process and desensitized society to the most fundamental issues relating to survival. Algorithms have no ethic and no morality. This is a fundamental evil.
This process promotes the rule of the mob; the promulgation of ignorance; and basic, primitive reactive behavior.
There should be a law.
QQ : 3. THE BORGIAS VERSUS PLAYSTATION
The two opposing forces in art and culture can be defined as:
1. Algorithmic democracy
versus
2. A patriarchal system of patronage.
Both forces have negative connotations. However, the results of these opposing forces are quite remarkable.
There are over 500 million downloads of the Angry Birds game. The number, 500 million, equals half a billion. 500 million is one fourteenth of the population of planet earth. This number means that one out of every fourteen; man, woman, child or dog on the planet - has a copy of Angry Birds.
This might be an indirect result of algorithmic democracy. This phenomenon can be considered benign, or possibly, satanic.
The ceiling of the Sistine chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV.
"Hey dude, Michelangelo, I like your stuff". " Paint me a ceiling".
SYSTEM 1: We get Angry Birds.
SYSTEM 2: We get Timeless Art.
Is it possible that the arts are, and always have been, the subject of patriarchal, egotistical patronage?
Were John Hammond, the Ertegens, Clive Davis and Chet Atkins, simply patrons who exercised their financial and executive power to fulfill their personal taste?
Was Peggy Guggenheim making educated decisions, or simply fulfilling her own artistic fantasy because she could?
Thank the Universe and Civilization for Peggy.
QQ : 4. BOB DYLAN
In 1961, John Hammond heard Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session and signed him to Columbia. Hammond kept Dylan on the label despite the protests of executives, who referred to Dylan as "Hammond’s folly". Hammond produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."
Was that Hammond's ego trip or an inspired plan of a visionary?
When Mary Martin conceived of the combination of Bob Dylan's musical evolution with a bar band from Toronto who were the backup musicians for Ronny Hawkins, was this her ego trip, or an inspired plan of a visionary?
Poll after poll designates "Like a Rolling Stone" as the number one, most popular song of all time. I doubt that an algorithm would confirm this designation. Trending on Twitter at this moment is a tribute to penile girth by Rihanna
QQ : 5. HUFF 'N PUFF
Is the Huffington Post the Napster of News?
The word "Aggregator" has horrifying cultural implications. The art form of "collage" has always seemed to have a secondary position relative to fine art. It's an interesting exercise, but more of a path than a statement. The mix and remix phenomenon has similar effect.
Those who cannot compose, compile, sample and remix
Those who cannot paint, collage.
Those who cannot write, aggregate.
QQ : 6 SEX DRUGS AND ROCK 'N ROLL
It used to be that a guy would take up a guitar and join a band to get chicks and get laid.
Now all of that has changed.
Now a guy gets into politics; finds an agenda, joins a party and gets in line behind Cain, Weiner, Spitzer and Clinton. Getting laid is a slam dunk.
Unfortunately, for this band of merry men, the Twit-verse is ever-present and sends out those algorithms in underpants.
Go for it Gloria Allred
I can't wait to see the Sugar Cain video on You-Tubify
QQ : 7. CROWD-SOURCING
Crowd-sourcing is a lovely word. This is the new nerd-speak for an economic model that pretends to be democratic. Here a corporation redefines the whole concept of copyright in a feudal sense. The King sends out crumbs to the serfs for their labor and their loyalty.
Send us your T-shirt design and the mob will vote. When the crowd is sourced, democracy reigns and we'll send you a penny or two. Our Twenty- million dollar T-shirt business is none of your business. That's our business. Crowd-sourcing......you create, we profit. It’s interactive, web 2, sharing, user friendly, social networking and viral. Have fun while you gather pennies and we profit.
QQ : 8. SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Surely we live in an era of Clown Culture. The resulting question that remains is : Does serious matter?
When Dickless Perry, Sho-U my Wiener, Bunga Berlusconi and Grope-me Cain entertain us, do we care?
When the highest rated clown of all Tubby Limbugger dominates the Party that abolished slavery and when little Johny Stewart, his mother's pride and joy, brings us the "News", does it matter?
Clowns rule!
I vote that they should all wear oversized shoes, button noses and baggy pants.
Oh, I forgot....Rush already does.
QQ : 9 MISSISSIPPI
50% of African American children in Mississippi live in poverty.
Mississippi rates #50 or last in Health Care on every level.
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in life expectancy
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in quality of life.
Mississippi ranks at or near or at the top for crime and corruption.
Mississippi citizens recently voted on Initiative 26, a constitutional amendment that would declare human life to begin “at the moment of fertilization.” The amendment would ban abortions even in pregnancies conceived through rape or incest, which would be the most stringent such standard in the country. Contraception could also be on the line based on re interpretation.
I look to Mississippi as my #1 moral compass on all things.
QQ : 10. OZ SPEAK
Despite her annoying artful accent, Julia Gillard is to be commended for plowing through with her ground- breaking legislation instituting a carbon tax and other environmental guidelines.
Australia actually has a Ministry of Climate Change in the sitting government.
The forthcoming 2012 elections in America will likely install a Ministry of Climate Change Denial.
QQ : 1 ALGORITHMS AND BLUES
Zuckerface said , ‘A Squirrel Dying In Your Front Yard May Be More Relevant To Your Interests Right Now Than People Dying In Africa’”
When algorithms define our individual reality; and those algorithms dictate our exposure to content based on our behavior; then the end result is a downward spiral. We do not necessarily behave well.
As we react to this algorithmic ‘democracy,’ the level of our exposure to a diminishing universe becomes more and more closed in. We narrow our scope, and ultimately behave and react accordingly.
As our universe becomes smaller and smaller, culture and ultimately society and civilization, follow a negative path and we are sucked down the drain to ultimate destruction.
There should be a law.
QQ : 2 QAPEK’S LAW OF A SHRINKING UNIVERSE
Human society will collapse in direct proportion to the degree that algorithms increasingly narrow our individual universe.
This process has collapsed the recorded music industry, the newspaper and magazine industry and network television. These are the lesser evils.
This process has put blinders on the political process and desensitized society to the most fundamental issues relating to survival. Algorithms have no ethic and no morality. This is a fundamental evil.
This process promotes the rule of the mob; the promulgation of ignorance; and basic, primitive reactive behavior.
There should be a law.
QQ : 3. THE BORGIAS VERSUS PLAYSTATION
The two opposing forces in art and culture can be defined as:
1. Algorithmic democracy
versus
2. A patriarchal system of patronage.
Both forces have negative connotations. However, the results of these opposing forces are quite remarkable.
There are over 500 million downloads of the Angry Birds game. The number, 500 million, equals half a billion. 500 million is one fourteenth of the population of planet earth. This number means that one out of every fourteen; man, woman, child or dog on the planet - has a copy of Angry Birds.
This might be an indirect result of algorithmic democracy. This phenomenon can be considered benign, or possibly, satanic.
The ceiling of the Sistine chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV.
"Hey dude, Michelangelo, I like your stuff". " Paint me a ceiling".
SYSTEM 1: We get Angry Birds.
SYSTEM 2: We get Timeless Art.
Is it possible that the arts are, and always have been, the subject of patriarchal, egotistical patronage?
Were John Hammond, the Ertegens, Clive Davis and Chet Atkins, simply patrons who exercised their financial and executive power to fulfill their personal taste?
Was Peggy Guggenheim making educated decisions, or simply fulfilling her own artistic fantasy because she could?
Thank the Universe and Civilization for Peggy.
QQ : 4. BOB DYLAN
In 1961, John Hammond heard Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session and signed him to Columbia. Hammond kept Dylan on the label despite the protests of executives, who referred to Dylan as "Hammond’s folly". Hammond produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."
Was that Hammond's ego trip or an inspired plan of a visionary?
When Mary Martin conceived of the combination of Bob Dylan's musical evolution with a bar band from Toronto who were the backup musicians for Ronny Hawkins, was this her ego trip, or an inspired plan of a visionary?
Poll after poll designates "Like a Rolling Stone" as the number one, most popular song of all time. I doubt that an algorithm would confirm this designation. Trending on Twitter at this moment is a tribute to penile girth by Rihanna
QQ : 5. HUFF 'N PUFF
Is the Huffington Post the Napster of News?
The word "Aggregator" has horrifying cultural implications. The art form of "collage" has always seemed to have a secondary position relative to fine art. It's an interesting exercise, but more of a path than a statement. The mix and remix phenomenon has similar effect.
Those who cannot compose, compile, sample and remix
Those who cannot paint, collage.
Those who cannot write, aggregate.
QQ : 6 SEX DRUGS AND ROCK 'N ROLL
It used to be that a guy would take up a guitar and join a band to get chicks and get laid.
Now all of that has changed.
Now a guy gets into politics; finds an agenda, joins a party and gets in line behind Cain, Weiner, Spitzer and Clinton. Getting laid is a slam dunk.
Unfortunately, for this band of merry men, the Twit-verse is ever-present and sends out those algorithms in underpants.
Go for it Gloria Allred
I can't wait to see the Sugar Cain video on You-Tubify
QQ : 7. CROWD-SOURCING
Crowd-sourcing is a lovely word. This is the new nerd-speak for an economic model that pretends to be democratic. Here a corporation redefines the whole concept of copyright in a feudal sense. The King sends out crumbs to the serfs for their labor and their loyalty.
Send us your T-shirt design and the mob will vote. When the crowd is sourced, democracy reigns and we'll send you a penny or two. Our Twenty- million dollar T-shirt business is none of your business. That's our business. Crowd-sourcing......you create, we profit. It’s interactive, web 2, sharing, user friendly, social networking and viral. Have fun while you gather pennies and we profit.
QQ : 8. SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Surely we live in an era of Clown Culture. The resulting question that remains is : Does serious matter?
When Dickless Perry, Sho-U my Wiener, Bunga Berlusconi and Grope-me Cain entertain us, do we care?
When the highest rated clown of all Tubby Limbugger dominates the Party that abolished slavery and when little Johny Stewart, his mother's pride and joy, brings us the "News", does it matter?
Clowns rule!
I vote that they should all wear oversized shoes, button noses and baggy pants.
Oh, I forgot....Rush already does.
QQ : 9 MISSISSIPPI
50% of African American children in Mississippi live in poverty.
Mississippi rates #50 or last in Health Care on every level.
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in life expectancy
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in quality of life.
Mississippi ranks at or near or at the top for crime and corruption.
Mississippi citizens recently voted on Initiative 26, a constitutional amendment that would declare human life to begin “at the moment of fertilization.” The amendment would ban abortions even in pregnancies conceived through rape or incest, which would be the most stringent such standard in the country. Contraception could also be on the line based on re interpretation.
I look to Mississippi as my #1 moral compass on all things.
QQ : 10. OZ SPEAK
Despite her annoying artful accent, Julia Gillard is to be commended for plowing through with her ground- breaking legislation instituting a carbon tax and other environmental guidelines.
Australia actually has a Ministry of Climate Change in the sitting government.
The forthcoming 2012 elections in America will likely install a Ministry of Climate Change Denial.
Sunday 6 November 2011
QQ : NUMBER FIFTEEN - November 6, 2011
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
Words : The New Annotated Qapek Dictionary.
----------------------------------------------------------------
QQ : 1 SHARE :
SHARE : When an original holder grants a partial use to another.
Is sharing something that you do not own, actually sharing?
Sharing music gets to be a sort of feudal, potentate thing. The king throws out scraps to the mob, who scramble to grab at what they can get because it’s free. They claim their 'share' and share they do.
Then the king taxes them. Then the mob steals to pay their taxes.
Therefore, Universal Galaxic Limited, Inc., ( UGLI ) release teasers to YouTubify; we download a bunch of content and then UGLI sues us for stealing their stuff.
The circle is broken.
I want my share!
QQ : 2 USER :
USER : One who partakes in the legal enjoyment of property.
When I watch a film on Netflix, apparently, I am a User. When I stream audio on Spotify, I am a User. The problem with the word USER is that the implied contract between the creator and the User is distorted by the middle man, the conveyor or the agent.
When The Creator made the Universe, we became users of his creation. Then came the intermediaries. Before them, we were in Eden. Then we were cast out and had to go through the middle man to enjoy creation.
Is there some reptile that could be applied to this contemporary contract? Are the intermediaries actually the original original sinners?
I'll just take one bite of that i-Apple and see what happens.
QQ : 3 NEWS
Reporting from the rear.
Is unverified blogging and tweeting actually "news" ?
Perhaps, I am a first offender. However, I prefer to be embedded in my own bed. I prefer to access news from the front... the actual front rather than the virtual front, or from the rear.
Then again, aggregating is downright theft with Huff-n-Puff, the first offender. AGGREGATE....there’s another word to love to hate, almost on a par with USER.
QQ : 4 OCCUPY
Here is an odd turn of phrase. Heisenberg postulated that the act of observation changes the observed object.
The Occupiers observe themselves, as they occupy via tweets and Facebook posts, as they are observed, observing themselves, complaining that they are being ignored by the media as they are observed, observing themselves.
Their aim is true, however, their voyeurism is troubling because the message is retained within the group.
More troubling still are memories of Kent State, as we fire on our own as they tweet to each other.
QQ : 5 CONTENT
We used to write songs. Now we provide Content.
QQ : 6 PRODUCT
We used to make records. Now we manufacture Product to give away free in order to sell MERCHANDISE.
QQ : 7 MELODY
A useful definition of music is: "organized noise"
Music, therefore, does not necessarily have a component of melody.
Although, I personally still whistle a happy tune.
It occurs to me that we all like a good story and we all enjoy a good tune.
Verdi and Gershwin wrote some decent tunes. Homer and Saramago wrote some decent stories.
I like a good story and I hope to write some good tunes.
QQ : 8 CLOUD
A Cloud contains water vapour that eventually becomes precipitation.
A book contains the accumulated knowledge of humanity
The Cloud contains water vapour that eventually becomes precipitation that drains away.
QQ : 9. LEADERS & FOLLOWERS
A Leader, as in "loss leader", is something that is put out there for free.
In the Twit-verse, a Follower is a statistic that follows the loss leader.
QQ : 10. FRIEND
What was once an acquaintance of a non- biblical, or biblical sense, is now a Facebook statistic pronounced 'Fraaand' according to the Valley-speak Elocution Authority.
Words : The New Annotated Qapek Dictionary.
----------------------------------------------------------------
QQ : 1 SHARE :
SHARE : When an original holder grants a partial use to another.
Is sharing something that you do not own, actually sharing?
Sharing music gets to be a sort of feudal, potentate thing. The king throws out scraps to the mob, who scramble to grab at what they can get because it’s free. They claim their 'share' and share they do.
Then the king taxes them. Then the mob steals to pay their taxes.
Therefore, Universal Galaxic Limited, Inc., ( UGLI ) release teasers to YouTubify; we download a bunch of content and then UGLI sues us for stealing their stuff.
The circle is broken.
I want my share!
QQ : 2 USER :
USER : One who partakes in the legal enjoyment of property.
When I watch a film on Netflix, apparently, I am a User. When I stream audio on Spotify, I am a User. The problem with the word USER is that the implied contract between the creator and the User is distorted by the middle man, the conveyor or the agent.
When The Creator made the Universe, we became users of his creation. Then came the intermediaries. Before them, we were in Eden. Then we were cast out and had to go through the middle man to enjoy creation.
Is there some reptile that could be applied to this contemporary contract? Are the intermediaries actually the original original sinners?
I'll just take one bite of that i-Apple and see what happens.
QQ : 3 NEWS
Reporting from the rear.
Is unverified blogging and tweeting actually "news" ?
Perhaps, I am a first offender. However, I prefer to be embedded in my own bed. I prefer to access news from the front... the actual front rather than the virtual front, or from the rear.
Then again, aggregating is downright theft with Huff-n-Puff, the first offender. AGGREGATE....there’s another word to love to hate, almost on a par with USER.
QQ : 4 OCCUPY
Here is an odd turn of phrase. Heisenberg postulated that the act of observation changes the observed object.
The Occupiers observe themselves, as they occupy via tweets and Facebook posts, as they are observed, observing themselves, complaining that they are being ignored by the media as they are observed, observing themselves.
Their aim is true, however, their voyeurism is troubling because the message is retained within the group.
More troubling still are memories of Kent State, as we fire on our own as they tweet to each other.
QQ : 5 CONTENT
We used to write songs. Now we provide Content.
QQ : 6 PRODUCT
We used to make records. Now we manufacture Product to give away free in order to sell MERCHANDISE.
QQ : 7 MELODY
A useful definition of music is: "organized noise"
Music, therefore, does not necessarily have a component of melody.
Although, I personally still whistle a happy tune.
It occurs to me that we all like a good story and we all enjoy a good tune.
Verdi and Gershwin wrote some decent tunes. Homer and Saramago wrote some decent stories.
I like a good story and I hope to write some good tunes.
QQ : 8 CLOUD
A Cloud contains water vapour that eventually becomes precipitation.
A book contains the accumulated knowledge of humanity
The Cloud contains water vapour that eventually becomes precipitation that drains away.
QQ : 9. LEADERS & FOLLOWERS
A Leader, as in "loss leader", is something that is put out there for free.
In the Twit-verse, a Follower is a statistic that follows the loss leader.
QQ : 10. FRIEND
What was once an acquaintance of a non- biblical, or biblical sense, is now a Facebook statistic pronounced 'Fraaand' according to the Valley-speak Elocution Authority.
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