A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
COPYRIGHT COPYWRONG
The Monsanto Corporation employs 'Seed Police' to enforce their patents. Seed Police? Are you kidding???? This enforcement group is based on intellectual property rights that are established law in the United States.
I think the Catholic Church is missing out on a great opportunity here. They could be monitoring the actual sanctity of life if they re-branded the Swiss Guards as the “Human Seed Police”. Il Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Spermatoza.
It’s the Onan Squad.
Big Pharma is engaged in constant litigation with regard to the patent rights of life-saving drugs. Here pragmatic economics must win out over ethics. Corporations, recently proclaimed by Clarence Thomas and his cronies as Actual People are only responsible to their immediate family, that is, their Shareholders.
The larger family, the actual human family has yet to be so blessed with personhood by the SCOTUS.
Who owns our inventions? Who owns our ideas? Who owns our very thoughts? Who owns our seed? Dr. Strangelove?
QQ:1 CAVEAT EMPTOR
In a recent interview, Sean Parker describes the demise of the recorded music industry quantitatively in terms of a devastating, total financial collapse. The figures he quotes are an annual drop from $45 billion gross to $12 billion and falling.
This devastating loss of an infrastructure, an industry, of a culture, of employment, of a social movement and of artistic quality is all the result of the ownership debate. It has become a stolen commodity. Recorded music is essentially free.
Thus lifted, it has become the very foundation of YouTube. The shareholders of Google are happy. They made money from stuff they didn’t pay for. Google is the biggest 'fence' in history.
QQ:2 SIZE MATTERS
Big Media tells us that there is more music being made, shared and consumed today than at any other time in human history. More music makers have access to a larger audience than ever before. In fact, one seventh of humanity will be members of the Zuckerface oligarchy by end 2012.
Zuck sells us stuff while we delude ourselves that we belong. We do belong.
We belong to Him.
Is Quantity a viable measure of Artistry and Culture? The more the merrier,
I say! With today’s technology, Leonardo Da Vinci could have achieved a billion-plus Mona Lisa hits on YouTube. Imagine the advertising revenue.
That enigmatic smile could sell genetically modfied corn to the corn-less.
Now, anybody has a shot at being Bach, Shakespeare, Hendrix or Dylan.
I'm on a Picasso kick right now. I figure that if I post my paintings, hire a hacker to manipulate some algorithms and really hone my social-media skills, accumulate a few million fans, give a bunch of stuff away for free, make a viral video and tweet about my prejudices, therapy, divorces and digestion...
I could make some serious dough. Picasso would be jealous. He did not have the same access to the kind of audience or algorithms that I can connect with. This is the new democracy and it’s great. Andy Warhol's prediction has come true, almost. He said that in the future everyone would be world famous for 15 minutes. I just think that 15 minutes is turning out to be a bit too long.
QQ: 3 IT’S BACTERIAL
I keep hearing Defenders of Free Media (DOFs) point to viral spread as a good thing.
This video has 50 million hits; that twit has 50 million followers; or that Zuckerface member has 50 million friends.
The problem is that I have never ever heard a DOF address issues of artistry, or quality, or culture, or innovation. There are just numbers and possibly some resulting advertising revenue. This concept, where the numbers are thought to equate to a social and economic value can have significant negative repercussions if they are scrutinized within some frameworks.
Adolph Hitler gained power ultimately as a result of a real, fair election. Was that a good number? French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America. Is that a good number? Kim Kardashian has over 12 million twitter followers. Is that a good thing? The Muslim Brotherhood and their fundamentalist brethren have the vast majority of numbers in Egypt. Are we pleased with the Arab spring?
Is cultural quality control a concept worth examining?
QQ: 4 WAGNER’S FRENCH FRY ORATORIO
There have always been multiple and layered cultural forces relating to the arts.
There has been the culture of the ruling class and the culture of the ruled.
Great and significant artistic statements have come from the oppressed, especially in musical expression. The music of the oppressed has given rise to the work songs and chants of labor from all cultures and ethnicities throughout history including the Blues and Jazz.
Religion has inspired music more profound and spiritual than any of the religious Institutions it is supposed to represent.
Potentates and rulers have commissioned music as designed by the most skilled musical composers and craftsmen that money could buy.
None of these movements apply to the viral, number-based DOF phenomenon. There is no gatekeeper, no church, no potentate and no slave driver.
What we do have, is the potential of our exposure to music being determined by the Hitler elector, the Kardashian follower the Hamas supporter and the French fry consumer.
The quality of music is strained.
QQ: 5 STICK THIS IN YOUR EAR
The manner in which we consume recorded music has suffered a marked and significant degradation. No matter how poor any musical reproduction system was in the ‘old’ technology, the resonance of the physical environment and the sharing of the listening experience mattered. Speakers resonate in a room, or in a car. We listened within a group.
Currently, we listen alone through cheap ear plugs. We plug our ears with music? What is it exactly that we hear? What is the emotional message?
Mp3s were created by deleting a significant portion of sonic information. When harmonics are missing, the resulting experience resonates mainly to the sound of percussion and to the spoken word.
If harmony and melody do not translate via an mp3 through an ear plug, then hip-hop surely will. Will-I-Am. There are always exceptions. The Peas actually got away with some real memorable melodic themes. But that was so early 2,000's. Old hat in our fast changing twit-verse.
QQ : 6 ROSEBUD
I hate to have to agree with a Rupert Murdoch on anything. But he's correct in his take on Google.
In fact, I would like to see him personally sell his newspapers standing on a street corner somewhere. There's some real 'one-on-one' human interaction. However, the principal of Rupert creating a product that contains concepts, ideas and commentary that he has commissioned and paid for gives him the right to stand on a corner and sell the damn thing. In principal, Rupert owns the right to sell his rags.
Except, of course, when the information has been stolen. In that case, he and/or his cohorts will suffer the legal consequences. It seems to be an open and shut case.
So when Sean Parker, Google and YouTube provide the conduit that 'shares' my stuff that they haven't paid for, sell advertising on the back of it and only compensate me if I come after them, I get pissed.
QQ : 7 ALGORITHMIC DEMOCRACY, A FASCINATING ALGORITHM
Cultural anarchy, creative democracy, the rule of the mob, fragmentation or the ultimate form of free expression are all in play as the algorithms work their numbers.
It is fascinating though, to watch Adele and Michael Buble find a path to the economic peak of 2011 that would seem to defy the culture of the DOF.
Some people, in fact some 10 million or so people paid for CD albums by these artists. Are these aberrations?
On his recent album, Buble performs the song "White Christmas". The Bing Crosby version is the best-selling, single song of all time. Buble has no problem creating yet another version adding millions more to the songs' track record. "White Christmas" is an anthemic, musical statement that transcends time, genre, culture and trend. It continues to celebrate, to unite, to inspire and to bring people together.
This is one-helluva powerful phenomenon. I would suggest that this is also a positive and important phenomenon. We need anthems that join us together in our common humanity.
I routinely challenge my songwriting students to name a recently written song that has even a remote likelihood of meeting the same resonance and reach as "White Christmas" 50 years from now.
They can’t because there isn't one.
That, I maintain, is because there is no songwriter today working at the level of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin or Harold Arlen. The economics of the business simply do not allow for that degree of artistry, commitment or work.
It's hard to compose an anthem. If it was easy, everybody would do it.
I would even take the idealistic conceptual leap to suggest that a contemporary anthem could and would find its way to us, if it were composed. But, perhaps this concept has disappeared... somewhere over the rainbow.
QQ : 8 JUST LIKE THE ONES WE USED TO KNOW
The DOF’s (defenders of free media - in case you have forgotten) maintain that anthems are being created everyday. We just don't get to hear them. They are wrong.
The DOFs maintain that there is as much artistry and talent out here as there ever was. They are wrong.
Inspiration is 10% of the equation. There is way too much anti-perspirant in the world today. We don't want to sweat. We just want to be famous, if not for 15 minutes, then for any time we can get. American Idol here we come. We will even sing "White Christmas" or "Stairway to Heaven" Any anthem will do. One old anthem is as good as another. There are no new ones.
QQ : 9 RUPERT AND ME
The bought-and-paid-for US Congress is currently raising re-election funding on the back of powerful lobbying forces dedicated to opposing points of view regarding the ownership of ideas. The proposed, bogged down "Stop Online Piracy" Act, SOPA, has become a cash cow for this corrupt election process. Clearly, Google wants to continue channeling stuff they have lifted while I, on the other hand, would like to be compensated for the millions of YouTube hits of my intellectual property. Within that paradigm, I find myself in an unholy alliance with Monsanto and Murdoch.
I don't wish to be on their team or a member of their club. It is a dilemma.
QQ : 10 ONCE UPON A TIME
"Innovation" implies forward, positive movement. "Culture" implies growth.
Every major thinker who ponders the current, economic world crisis points to education as the first order of business on our road forward.
What is education but the route to innovation and to growth?
But, innovation and growth also need to be applied to the arts. Art is not secondary to Engineering or Science. In fact, artistic exploration can be the very conduit, the route to innovative thinking and invention at the highest level of scientific exploration.
Artistic innovation and artistic growth can only occur within a conducive environment where artistic expression is considered to be worthy and important.
We, as a society are now colluding in the new, accepted form of transmission of the arts; of intellectual property; and of creativity... by stealing it.
By not compensating creators, we suffer a deep loss, even a moral bankruptcy.
The Monsanto Corporation and Leonardo Da Vinci are not equivalents. Pablo Picasso and Johnson & Johnson are not equivalents when it comes to the protection of ideas.
I have no interest in being embedded with them or their ilk or their ‘Brave New World’ of ‘Seed Police’.
Further, I believe that the concept of ‘cultural democracy’ is deeply flawed.
Cultural nutrition is essential for life. French Fries will not sustain us forever.
Our humanity is expressed in our stories, our paintings and our songs. They are more than worthy of our acknowledgment, our development, our education and our protection.
Engraved on my Stone Tablet. Edited by Batsheva
John
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
QQ : NUMBER TWENTY ONE - January 15, 2012
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
American architect, Walter Burley Griffin was a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Griffin designed Australia's capital city, Canberra. He also designed the Newman College Catholic residence at Melbourne University.
As a former student at Melbourne Uni, I retain a vivid visual memory of that building. A close friend was resident there. I remember that the very building, its design, structure and form felt magical. It was civilizing and peaceful and had a profound effect on me. It spoke to me then. It still does.
Griffin’s design combined form and function on a high level. The elements, as I understood them were:
Harmony
Structure
Spirituality
Academic endeavor
Are these four elements not the very pillars of civilization?
By virtue of the spirituality that I perceived in the architecture of that building, it occurred to me that Catholicism couldn’t be all bad. In fact, it seemed to me that the building might redeem all organized religion. If the Pope could commission beauty of that stature, there must be some good in religion. I was so moved, I even considered conversion. Guess I wasn't the first guy to be in awe of papal erections.
I have since changed my mind. My change of perspective has nothing to do with Catholicism, Griffin or Newman College. It’s the result of watching the crash and burn of the GOP as it races full speed back to the Dark Ages-Al Qaeda-style-with all its attendant religious and social dogmatic fundamentalism.
I find myself in a reluctant alliance with Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher. This “reluctance” only reflects my continuing attachment to tradition and ceremony. But things have gotten out of hand.
The church, the mosque, the temple and the synagogue have all gone nuts.
The unholy mix of fundamentalist religiosity with a right-wing political agenda is, perhaps, a potential evil as great as any in human history.
We cannot argue with God. So, if God is speaking to our elected representatives; and if they are talking back to him - then we should be afraid, very afraid.
Dick Santorum talks to God. God told him to be a "real" political and social conservative. He is also an "evangelical"; a self-appointed salesman for extremism and fundamentalism. Emphasis on - 'mentalism'. Dick wants to nuke Iran. God told him to.
QQ : 1 “AND GOD SPAKE UNTO HER....”
Up high in the sky, on a throne, sits an old man. He has a white beard. He sees all and judges all. He rewards and punishes based on fear. He seems angry. He told Michelle Bachman to run for the US presidency. Then he changed his mind.
She must have had unclean thoughts.
QQ : 2 THE PEACEFUL NATION OF SRI LANKA
A few millennia ago, here on earth, lived a chubby, Indian aristocrat. He liked to bare his very round tummy, as can be seen in the millions of images of himself in his temples. He found the truth after sitting under a fig tree for precisely forty-nine days of meditation. We can attain Nirvana by following his precepts. Those precepts however have disappeared. There is no first hand written record of his teaching. Adaptations of writings that may never have existed have resulted in a novel concept of compassionate violence and nationalistic religious zealotry. Japan was a jolly, Zen-full society when they bombed Pearl Harbour and Ceylon is just teeming with good will and harmony today.
Perhaps the lost writings are buried in upper New York State? Let's ask Mitt.
QQ : 3 AN EYE PATCH FOR NEWT?
A carpenter was born of a virgin. He died and then he came back.
The contents of his most famous sermon suggest that if your vision is tempting you to commit adultery, you should remove your eye. Ouch!
Newt Ging-grinch still has both eyes. It's a miracle!
QQ : 4 A JOB FOR GOOGLE TRANSLATE
In the 1800's an American fellow by the name of Joseph Smith found a couple of gold tablets inscribed in a language that only he could understand. Then the tablets disappeared. He said that God will return... to Missouri. Joseph proclaimed himself King.
Currently, Joe has 14 million followers world-wide. One of them may become President of the USA. Our future Prez could likely not replicate the translation, but he is gung-ho for Joe's wacky concepts...including the Missouri thing.
After forty-nine minutes of meditating under a bag of organic prunes, it was revealed to me that Mitt Romney is a very rich, nut job. We seem to regularly elect very rich, nut jobs.
Why is that?
QQ : 5 ROCK AND ROLL
A prophet has a dedicated big, black stone in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Faithful followers are required to go there. I am not sure why. Lethal stampedes, disease and pick-pocketing are an inherent part of the experience. Perhaps there are other more constructive ways to demonstrate solidarity. Seen one rock, seen 'em all.
The Bush oligarchs did their share of bowing and scraping at the feet of the keepers of the rock. Their legacy continues.
I say it's only rock & roll and I don't like it.
QQ : 6 THE EARTH IS FLAT
Put a small box on your head every morning. Cut off the end of your newborn son’s penis. God told you so. Also, wear a funny hat. There are a few really pious guys trying to force women back to the back of the bus. It’s too tempting to have them sitting with the pious. And the women are unclean about half the time. Eeew.
Endorse Dick Santorum. He is in an unholy alliance with an Israeli, right-wing faction that is so far to the right, it has fallen off the edge of the earth. (The flat earth). Anything to bring on the rapture. Go Dick!
It seems to me that bringing on the End Times, sooner than later, is not actually in the best interest of either the Israelis or the Palestinians.
QQ: 7 SMILE IF YOUR HEART IS ACHING
Members of the Cardinal Team travel to Rome. They elect some guy to be God's representative on earth and have him wear a funny hat. It helps if God's rep is a former member of Hitler Youth. Returning to home turf, team members practice celibacy-until they get it right. Altar boys are there to help.
Team cheerleaders live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. They are married to God and also wear funny hats.
Newt tells us that when he saw the big man in the funny hat smile, it was game over. The glow from the pope-mobile must have been blinding. Newt is a recent convert/ follower of this odd, Roman mythology-after trying on several others. Good for you Newt. I love to see you smile.
My question is: Is the Pontiff's smile more blissfully benign than the Dalai Lama's? Had Newt seen the Dalai Lama's smile first, would he have picked the happy guy with the belly?
"You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile" as sung by Curt Cobain.
QQ : 8 THE MULLAH SAID SO
The clitoris needs to be removed. Women need to remain entirely covered and cannot drive. If women commit adultery, they are to be buried up to their waists and stoned to death. This brings us closer to God in Africa. God, however, did not instruct us to be concerned. Like Vegas, what happens in Africa, stays in Africa.
QQ : 9 GULAG USA
Life begins at conception. Terminating a zygote is murder.
All pregnancies are to be brought to term. All women should be forced-on pain of criminal offence-to bring every pregnancy they ever have-to term.
The world needs more people.
The additional population can then help occupy the prison industrial complex. This represents fundamental job creation for the American gulag.
QQ : 10 THE GOP DECALOGUE
The new, conservative right has adopted these new ten commandments. Two gold tablets have been commissioned. They are to be written in a language nobody understands and then buried in Missouri.
2 Thou shalt not permit government to legislate compassion.
3 Thou shalt not provide healthcare to the old and disadvantaged.
4 Thou shalt maintain an arsenal of assault weapons in each home and carry them at all times.
5 The mentally ill are criminals. No punishment is too severe.
6 All law is to be based on the Santorum/Khomeini New-Testament/Koran decrees.
7 Poverty is a crime to be punished with forced labor.
8 Illegal immigrants are to be shot on sight.
9 Global cooling is to be taught as scientific principal.
10 The old man in the sky made the earth 5000 years ago. That is absolute, undisputed fact.
It is written.
(I remember the dinosaurs ........but that was the sixties).
Engraved on my Stone Tablet. Edited by Batsheva
John
www.johncapek.com
MY CONVERSION
American architect, Walter Burley Griffin was a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Griffin designed Australia's capital city, Canberra. He also designed the Newman College Catholic residence at Melbourne University.
As a former student at Melbourne Uni, I retain a vivid visual memory of that building. A close friend was resident there. I remember that the very building, its design, structure and form felt magical. It was civilizing and peaceful and had a profound effect on me. It spoke to me then. It still does.
Griffin’s design combined form and function on a high level. The elements, as I understood them were:
Harmony
Structure
Spirituality
Academic endeavor
Are these four elements not the very pillars of civilization?
By virtue of the spirituality that I perceived in the architecture of that building, it occurred to me that Catholicism couldn’t be all bad. In fact, it seemed to me that the building might redeem all organized religion. If the Pope could commission beauty of that stature, there must be some good in religion. I was so moved, I even considered conversion. Guess I wasn't the first guy to be in awe of papal erections.
I have since changed my mind. My change of perspective has nothing to do with Catholicism, Griffin or Newman College. It’s the result of watching the crash and burn of the GOP as it races full speed back to the Dark Ages-Al Qaeda-style-with all its attendant religious and social dogmatic fundamentalism.
I find myself in a reluctant alliance with Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher. This “reluctance” only reflects my continuing attachment to tradition and ceremony. But things have gotten out of hand.
The church, the mosque, the temple and the synagogue have all gone nuts.
The unholy mix of fundamentalist religiosity with a right-wing political agenda is, perhaps, a potential evil as great as any in human history.
We cannot argue with God. So, if God is speaking to our elected representatives; and if they are talking back to him - then we should be afraid, very afraid.
Dick Santorum talks to God. God told him to be a "real" political and social conservative. He is also an "evangelical"; a self-appointed salesman for extremism and fundamentalism. Emphasis on - 'mentalism'. Dick wants to nuke Iran. God told him to.
QQ : 1 “AND GOD SPAKE UNTO HER....”
Up high in the sky, on a throne, sits an old man. He has a white beard. He sees all and judges all. He rewards and punishes based on fear. He seems angry. He told Michelle Bachman to run for the US presidency. Then he changed his mind.
She must have had unclean thoughts.
QQ : 2 THE PEACEFUL NATION OF SRI LANKA
A few millennia ago, here on earth, lived a chubby, Indian aristocrat. He liked to bare his very round tummy, as can be seen in the millions of images of himself in his temples. He found the truth after sitting under a fig tree for precisely forty-nine days of meditation. We can attain Nirvana by following his precepts. Those precepts however have disappeared. There is no first hand written record of his teaching. Adaptations of writings that may never have existed have resulted in a novel concept of compassionate violence and nationalistic religious zealotry. Japan was a jolly, Zen-full society when they bombed Pearl Harbour and Ceylon is just teeming with good will and harmony today.
Perhaps the lost writings are buried in upper New York State? Let's ask Mitt.
QQ : 3 AN EYE PATCH FOR NEWT?
A carpenter was born of a virgin. He died and then he came back.
The contents of his most famous sermon suggest that if your vision is tempting you to commit adultery, you should remove your eye. Ouch!
Newt Ging-grinch still has both eyes. It's a miracle!
QQ : 4 A JOB FOR GOOGLE TRANSLATE
In the 1800's an American fellow by the name of Joseph Smith found a couple of gold tablets inscribed in a language that only he could understand. Then the tablets disappeared. He said that God will return... to Missouri. Joseph proclaimed himself King.
Currently, Joe has 14 million followers world-wide. One of them may become President of the USA. Our future Prez could likely not replicate the translation, but he is gung-ho for Joe's wacky concepts...including the Missouri thing.
After forty-nine minutes of meditating under a bag of organic prunes, it was revealed to me that Mitt Romney is a very rich, nut job. We seem to regularly elect very rich, nut jobs.
Why is that?
QQ : 5 ROCK AND ROLL
A prophet has a dedicated big, black stone in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Faithful followers are required to go there. I am not sure why. Lethal stampedes, disease and pick-pocketing are an inherent part of the experience. Perhaps there are other more constructive ways to demonstrate solidarity. Seen one rock, seen 'em all.
The Bush oligarchs did their share of bowing and scraping at the feet of the keepers of the rock. Their legacy continues.
I say it's only rock & roll and I don't like it.
QQ : 6 THE EARTH IS FLAT
Put a small box on your head every morning. Cut off the end of your newborn son’s penis. God told you so. Also, wear a funny hat. There are a few really pious guys trying to force women back to the back of the bus. It’s too tempting to have them sitting with the pious. And the women are unclean about half the time. Eeew.
Endorse Dick Santorum. He is in an unholy alliance with an Israeli, right-wing faction that is so far to the right, it has fallen off the edge of the earth. (The flat earth). Anything to bring on the rapture. Go Dick!
It seems to me that bringing on the End Times, sooner than later, is not actually in the best interest of either the Israelis or the Palestinians.
QQ: 7 SMILE IF YOUR HEART IS ACHING
Members of the Cardinal Team travel to Rome. They elect some guy to be God's representative on earth and have him wear a funny hat. It helps if God's rep is a former member of Hitler Youth. Returning to home turf, team members practice celibacy-until they get it right. Altar boys are there to help.
Team cheerleaders live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. They are married to God and also wear funny hats.
Newt tells us that when he saw the big man in the funny hat smile, it was game over. The glow from the pope-mobile must have been blinding. Newt is a recent convert/ follower of this odd, Roman mythology-after trying on several others. Good for you Newt. I love to see you smile.
My question is: Is the Pontiff's smile more blissfully benign than the Dalai Lama's? Had Newt seen the Dalai Lama's smile first, would he have picked the happy guy with the belly?
"You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile" as sung by Curt Cobain.
QQ : 8 THE MULLAH SAID SO
The clitoris needs to be removed. Women need to remain entirely covered and cannot drive. If women commit adultery, they are to be buried up to their waists and stoned to death. This brings us closer to God in Africa. God, however, did not instruct us to be concerned. Like Vegas, what happens in Africa, stays in Africa.
QQ : 9 GULAG USA
Life begins at conception. Terminating a zygote is murder.
All pregnancies are to be brought to term. All women should be forced-on pain of criminal offence-to bring every pregnancy they ever have-to term.
The world needs more people.
The additional population can then help occupy the prison industrial complex. This represents fundamental job creation for the American gulag.
QQ : 10 THE GOP DECALOGUE
The new, conservative right has adopted these new ten commandments. Two gold tablets have been commissioned. They are to be written in a language nobody understands and then buried in Missouri.
GOP-DEC
1 Thou shalt not terminate a zygote. 2 Thou shalt not permit government to legislate compassion.
3 Thou shalt not provide healthcare to the old and disadvantaged.
4 Thou shalt maintain an arsenal of assault weapons in each home and carry them at all times.
5 The mentally ill are criminals. No punishment is too severe.
6 All law is to be based on the Santorum/Khomeini New-Testament/Koran decrees.
7 Poverty is a crime to be punished with forced labor.
8 Illegal immigrants are to be shot on sight.
9 Global cooling is to be taught as scientific principal.
10 The old man in the sky made the earth 5000 years ago. That is absolute, undisputed fact.
It is written.
(I remember the dinosaurs ........but that was the sixties).
Engraved on my Stone Tablet. Edited by Batsheva
John
www.johncapek.com
Monday, 2 January 2012
QQ : NUMBER TWENTY - January 3 2012
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
Havel, Hitchens & Skvorecky:
Czech-mate.
It's hard to be pithy and witty when people I care about die.
On the other hand, I can't resist the edge.
QQ :1 THE ESOTERIC CLOWN
The recently departed year 2011 was the year of the Clowns.
Clowns deliver the news; Jon Stewart.
Clowns stand for president; Herman Cain.
Clowns perform our musical anthems; Kanye West and Lady Gag Gag.
I nominate my favourite sad clown to a position of prominence.
RIP Christopher Hitchens. Hitch was after all, in the entertainment business, and he was a masterful although pathetic clown. He was a textbook case of self hatred who wore his heart on his sleeve and demonstrated his internal battle to everyone but himself. Irony of ironies, that this anti-Semitic, anti- Zionist atheist and possibly sexually conflicted individual was the son of a Jewish mother, and left behind (amongst others) a Jewish wife and daughter. I loved his brilliant rhetoric, his wit, his intellect, his debating skills, quick mind and his idealistic though perhaps superficial striving for a subjective interpretation of humanism. In the end, he only exposed an alter ego who was a bigot, a racist and a self hating destructive sad clown.
That said, he still spoke to me as an intellectual athlete. I got what he was trying to do.
Look, up in the sky, it's super-Hitch, able to heap tall barbing in a single round.
I mourn his passing.
QQ : 2 CHOOSE A MYTHOLOGY...OR NOT
Vaclav Havel was the son of privilege. That is an irony. There is a strong Czech cultural tradition of black humor and irony. I am a product of that tradition, as was Havel, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera.
Havel's very life was ironic.
Ironically, Havel believed in a force greater than what humans can perceive. He attributed our violent century to the breakdown of organized religion and the ascendancy of atheism. Despite that belief, Havel was no fan of organized religion. He rather had a faith in the larger, philosophical concept of the mystical.
Hitchens would argue alternatively that historically, more corruption and more violence has occurred in the very name of organized religion.
In fact, Hitchens would point to religion as mankind's greatest historical evil.
QQ : 3 THE SUPER CONSCIOUS
Hitchens argued that Rabbi Hillel’s one sentence summary of the entire Torah also encompassed the fundamental principal of humanism. That one sentence, transcended all organized religion. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Havel argued that this was not enough. We need to formally acknowledge that there is a larger spiritual concept beyond our comprehension encompassing the mysterious, the absurd, the infinite and the un-explainable. Although individuals may aspire to function according to Rabbi Hillel's precept, entire societies cannot. They need more.
Beyond ethics and religion neither Hitchens, nor Havel came even remotely close to answering the larger question. What is consciousness?
Perhaps the only absolute is not our consciousness, or that we exist, but rather, that once we are gone, we once existed.
Bach existed, Picasso existed and Shakespeare (in some guise) existed. Our consciousness may be irrelevant and un-understandable, but what we leave behind, may be significant and meaningful.
Havel thrived in his thinking, on the absurd and the un-understandable.
I can dig that. That is the creative consciousness.
QQ : 4 CNN, HITCH AND MR. WALKER
I do a dis-service to Hitch by not acknowledging his balls. He was a brave warrior who stepped off the edge to get his story. He reminds me of the CNN crew who shared my cabin on a night flight to Johannesburg to cover Nelson Mandela's historic release from jail. These videographers and on-camera personalities traveled from crisis to crisis around the planet, never sure if it was them or the plane that was fueled by Johnny Walker Black Label. I was the musical warrior and melodic commentary at that time.
I envied them their adventure but not their stress. Crisis was their bread and butter. Hitch clearly also thrived on adventure and risk. He suffered for it.
QQ : 5 PLAY BALL
Havel also had balls. He and Hitch shared an affinity for the same substances and for the hormonally induced, testosterone fueled pursuit where penis runs the show. This is the male tragedy.
I fantasize a debate, a conversation or a drunken rant between these two giants. They were both humanists. They behaved bravely and badly. They came at life from such ironically similar perspectives that they should have, and could have, co-existed as mutual forces for good. I wonder if they ever met? They shared one commonality. Havel and Hitchens were both adamant America-Philes. They both believed that America symbolized the so far, best example of a historically free and emancipated society
QQ : 6 HITCH AND THE PRAGUE CEMETERY
Hitch made one repeated and consistent fatal error in his perception of nationhood.
He became an American without a clear understanding of the historical perspective that he was embracing. America was constructed out of a War of Independence, a Civil War that is not over, and an ethnic cleansing process that more than decimated the aboriginal population. The very economic foundation of the country was based on slavery and the repercussions of that continue to be all-pervasive.
Therefore, Hitchens, demolishing destructive and bigoted criticism of the very fundamentals of the existence and foundation of the state of Israel, is an ignorant point of view which I believe to be without historical foundation or relative perspective. It has occurred to me that there may be a traumatic basis for Hitchens distorted Israel hating stance. Self hate anyone?
All nations are built on struggle and violence. The Jews have been history’s traditional scapegoat. They are history’s easiest target. After all they killed God. But then again Hitch didn't believe in God. He did however believe that there was a Jewish problem that needed a solution. Adolph had the same ideas and tried to follow them through with some success. Get rid of those pesky Jews and all the world’s problems will be solved. Palestine will be free and terrorism will end.
After 5000 years, isn't this concept getting a bit old?
Are these people really that powerful?
QQ : 7 HEBREW CLOWNS
Jews after all have their own clowns. There is Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Howard Stern and Bill Maher and Anthony Weiner. Collectively, they have so far not taken over the planet or destroyed the world as we know it.
Jews have their political leaders. Rahm Emmanuel, Michael Bloomberg , Gabriel Giffords and Madeline Albright all seem to have not done too much damage to humanity. Perhaps they were not part of the Satanic, Masonic, Nights of the Templar Jewish conspiracy to conquer and dominate the world. Or I could be mistaken. Maybe we have all just been fooled. Jews are clearly much smarter than everyone else and there is a larger agenda. Ultimately, that is the 5000 year old story, along with the recipe for making matzoh with the blood of Christian babies. And of course Anthony Weiner was personally responsible for the crucifixion. There's the rub. Rub-a-dub-dub
QQ : 8 UTAH-NISM
What if Hitch and Havel were both right?
Religion has in fact caused more death, pain and suffering in all of human history that any territorial, tribal or ethnic conflict.
Yet, the elimination of organized religion was policy in Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany. Together as atheists, these regimes destroyed a significant portion of humanity.
Is it all a neutral concept? When we genuflect, face east, wear fringes, wail, pray, bow, chant and beat our breasts, does this move mountains, cure cancer and save children?
Pakistan and North Korea both have nuclear weapons. Pakistan is deeply religious. North Korea is not, in the traditional sense. Did Jesus die for their sins? If the leaders of both of these nations experienced baptism, would we be saved?
I am told that my family who perished in Hitler’s death camps has been secretly baptized. Can I claim Utahn citizenship? The record of that baptism lies in a cellar under a golden idol topped monument in Salt Lake City. A certain later day saint, and self proclaimed King, Joseph Smith may well be guiding the path of the free world in 2013 by proxy, through his agent on earth. In which direction should I kneel, beat, cross and fast, light candles and bow three times in order to save myself from an eternity in hell?
Apparently president Mitt Romney has the answer and perhaps the final solution. Based on his absurd beliefs, he is one scary dude.
QQ : 9 MOTHER EARTH
The Arab spring is perhaps the saddest, most ironic movement in modern history.
Statistics estimate that 90% of Egyptian women of all classes and segments of society have been subjected to FGM. We use this acronym as the reality is too painful to acknowledge. Female genital mutilation. This was not Mubarek's fault. It is not israel’s fault. Is this islam’s finest hour? This is not by any means the largest issue that motivated the Muslim brotherhood to action or the Iranian sponsorship of fundamentalist reactionary activity. This issue is a back-burner cultural issue that is swept under the mat. In the shoes of a Hitchens, with his reach, with his audience and his influence, in his place, I would address this issue beyond all others. In fact Hitch did address this issue forcefully, but not specifically and contextually related to the rights of women. What is it that is so threatening about a clitoris that it must be removed in the millions? What does humanity lose when it loses a woman's voice, a woman's power, a woman's compassion and a woman’s sexual gratification?
More than we can begin to comprehend.
When will we witness the Egyptian women's spring?
Like with Isaac and Abraham, perhaps God was just kidding.
Ismael! Leave the Vulva alone, it's perfectly fine the way I made it!
QQ : 10 STUCK
I have yet another plea, maybe a prayer. Bessie Smith lay dying in a roadside ditch waiting for a black ambulance that arrived too late. She sang about "some sugar in her bowl" and pre-empted Madonna and Lady Gag Gag by about 100 years.
There is plagiarism and just unpleasant cultural mining that is unforgivable. Lady Gag Gag's latest is a great motivator for cultural censorship, or if she had balls, then their removal. "Stuck on Fuckin You" Gag Gag's latest single release, or "drop" as they call it these days is a monument to exploitive poor taste, a cultural crime, and an example of offensive puerile excrement without art, artifice, drama, poetry or of value of any kind.
Bessie Smith had this genre down one hundred years ago and made it art, made it sexy, made it erotic and made it fun. Contemporarily, Cee Lo Green said "Fuck You" with finesse. Gag Gag makes it an insult. Speaking of vaginas and their value, Gag Gag's release of this tune is a cultural hole. In fact, I'd rather listen to Hole with its sonically dark and dangerous underbelly. At least Courtney Love is a fantastic actress. She should do more movies.
So sue me.
QQ : 11 EQUAL TIME FOR DICK
Dick Cheney, Dick Santorum. Dick Nixon, Dick Perry, Dick Helms, Dick Lugar and there are many more Dicks where these came from.
Etched on my Stone Tablet.
Havel, Hitchens & Skvorecky:
Czech-mate.
It's hard to be pithy and witty when people I care about die.
On the other hand, I can't resist the edge.
QQ :1 THE ESOTERIC CLOWN
The recently departed year 2011 was the year of the Clowns.
Clowns deliver the news; Jon Stewart.
Clowns stand for president; Herman Cain.
Clowns perform our musical anthems; Kanye West and Lady Gag Gag.
I nominate my favourite sad clown to a position of prominence.
RIP Christopher Hitchens. Hitch was after all, in the entertainment business, and he was a masterful although pathetic clown. He was a textbook case of self hatred who wore his heart on his sleeve and demonstrated his internal battle to everyone but himself. Irony of ironies, that this anti-Semitic, anti- Zionist atheist and possibly sexually conflicted individual was the son of a Jewish mother, and left behind (amongst others) a Jewish wife and daughter. I loved his brilliant rhetoric, his wit, his intellect, his debating skills, quick mind and his idealistic though perhaps superficial striving for a subjective interpretation of humanism. In the end, he only exposed an alter ego who was a bigot, a racist and a self hating destructive sad clown.
That said, he still spoke to me as an intellectual athlete. I got what he was trying to do.
Look, up in the sky, it's super-Hitch, able to heap tall barbing in a single round.
I mourn his passing.
QQ : 2 CHOOSE A MYTHOLOGY...OR NOT
Vaclav Havel was the son of privilege. That is an irony. There is a strong Czech cultural tradition of black humor and irony. I am a product of that tradition, as was Havel, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera.
Havel's very life was ironic.
Ironically, Havel believed in a force greater than what humans can perceive. He attributed our violent century to the breakdown of organized religion and the ascendancy of atheism. Despite that belief, Havel was no fan of organized religion. He rather had a faith in the larger, philosophical concept of the mystical.
Hitchens would argue alternatively that historically, more corruption and more violence has occurred in the very name of organized religion.
In fact, Hitchens would point to religion as mankind's greatest historical evil.
QQ : 3 THE SUPER CONSCIOUS
Hitchens argued that Rabbi Hillel’s one sentence summary of the entire Torah also encompassed the fundamental principal of humanism. That one sentence, transcended all organized religion. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Havel argued that this was not enough. We need to formally acknowledge that there is a larger spiritual concept beyond our comprehension encompassing the mysterious, the absurd, the infinite and the un-explainable. Although individuals may aspire to function according to Rabbi Hillel's precept, entire societies cannot. They need more.
Beyond ethics and religion neither Hitchens, nor Havel came even remotely close to answering the larger question. What is consciousness?
Perhaps the only absolute is not our consciousness, or that we exist, but rather, that once we are gone, we once existed.
Bach existed, Picasso existed and Shakespeare (in some guise) existed. Our consciousness may be irrelevant and un-understandable, but what we leave behind, may be significant and meaningful.
Havel thrived in his thinking, on the absurd and the un-understandable.
I can dig that. That is the creative consciousness.
QQ : 4 CNN, HITCH AND MR. WALKER
I do a dis-service to Hitch by not acknowledging his balls. He was a brave warrior who stepped off the edge to get his story. He reminds me of the CNN crew who shared my cabin on a night flight to Johannesburg to cover Nelson Mandela's historic release from jail. These videographers and on-camera personalities traveled from crisis to crisis around the planet, never sure if it was them or the plane that was fueled by Johnny Walker Black Label. I was the musical warrior and melodic commentary at that time.
I envied them their adventure but not their stress. Crisis was their bread and butter. Hitch clearly also thrived on adventure and risk. He suffered for it.
QQ : 5 PLAY BALL
Havel also had balls. He and Hitch shared an affinity for the same substances and for the hormonally induced, testosterone fueled pursuit where penis runs the show. This is the male tragedy.
I fantasize a debate, a conversation or a drunken rant between these two giants. They were both humanists. They behaved bravely and badly. They came at life from such ironically similar perspectives that they should have, and could have, co-existed as mutual forces for good. I wonder if they ever met? They shared one commonality. Havel and Hitchens were both adamant America-Philes. They both believed that America symbolized the so far, best example of a historically free and emancipated society
QQ : 6 HITCH AND THE PRAGUE CEMETERY
Hitch made one repeated and consistent fatal error in his perception of nationhood.
He became an American without a clear understanding of the historical perspective that he was embracing. America was constructed out of a War of Independence, a Civil War that is not over, and an ethnic cleansing process that more than decimated the aboriginal population. The very economic foundation of the country was based on slavery and the repercussions of that continue to be all-pervasive.
Therefore, Hitchens, demolishing destructive and bigoted criticism of the very fundamentals of the existence and foundation of the state of Israel, is an ignorant point of view which I believe to be without historical foundation or relative perspective. It has occurred to me that there may be a traumatic basis for Hitchens distorted Israel hating stance. Self hate anyone?
All nations are built on struggle and violence. The Jews have been history’s traditional scapegoat. They are history’s easiest target. After all they killed God. But then again Hitch didn't believe in God. He did however believe that there was a Jewish problem that needed a solution. Adolph had the same ideas and tried to follow them through with some success. Get rid of those pesky Jews and all the world’s problems will be solved. Palestine will be free and terrorism will end.
After 5000 years, isn't this concept getting a bit old?
Are these people really that powerful?
QQ : 7 HEBREW CLOWNS
Jews after all have their own clowns. There is Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Howard Stern and Bill Maher and Anthony Weiner. Collectively, they have so far not taken over the planet or destroyed the world as we know it.
Jews have their political leaders. Rahm Emmanuel, Michael Bloomberg , Gabriel Giffords and Madeline Albright all seem to have not done too much damage to humanity. Perhaps they were not part of the Satanic, Masonic, Nights of the Templar Jewish conspiracy to conquer and dominate the world. Or I could be mistaken. Maybe we have all just been fooled. Jews are clearly much smarter than everyone else and there is a larger agenda. Ultimately, that is the 5000 year old story, along with the recipe for making matzoh with the blood of Christian babies. And of course Anthony Weiner was personally responsible for the crucifixion. There's the rub. Rub-a-dub-dub
QQ : 8 UTAH-NISM
What if Hitch and Havel were both right?
Religion has in fact caused more death, pain and suffering in all of human history that any territorial, tribal or ethnic conflict.
Yet, the elimination of organized religion was policy in Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany. Together as atheists, these regimes destroyed a significant portion of humanity.
Is it all a neutral concept? When we genuflect, face east, wear fringes, wail, pray, bow, chant and beat our breasts, does this move mountains, cure cancer and save children?
Pakistan and North Korea both have nuclear weapons. Pakistan is deeply religious. North Korea is not, in the traditional sense. Did Jesus die for their sins? If the leaders of both of these nations experienced baptism, would we be saved?
I am told that my family who perished in Hitler’s death camps has been secretly baptized. Can I claim Utahn citizenship? The record of that baptism lies in a cellar under a golden idol topped monument in Salt Lake City. A certain later day saint, and self proclaimed King, Joseph Smith may well be guiding the path of the free world in 2013 by proxy, through his agent on earth. In which direction should I kneel, beat, cross and fast, light candles and bow three times in order to save myself from an eternity in hell?
Apparently president Mitt Romney has the answer and perhaps the final solution. Based on his absurd beliefs, he is one scary dude.
QQ : 9 MOTHER EARTH
The Arab spring is perhaps the saddest, most ironic movement in modern history.
Statistics estimate that 90% of Egyptian women of all classes and segments of society have been subjected to FGM. We use this acronym as the reality is too painful to acknowledge. Female genital mutilation. This was not Mubarek's fault. It is not israel’s fault. Is this islam’s finest hour? This is not by any means the largest issue that motivated the Muslim brotherhood to action or the Iranian sponsorship of fundamentalist reactionary activity. This issue is a back-burner cultural issue that is swept under the mat. In the shoes of a Hitchens, with his reach, with his audience and his influence, in his place, I would address this issue beyond all others. In fact Hitch did address this issue forcefully, but not specifically and contextually related to the rights of women. What is it that is so threatening about a clitoris that it must be removed in the millions? What does humanity lose when it loses a woman's voice, a woman's power, a woman's compassion and a woman’s sexual gratification?
More than we can begin to comprehend.
When will we witness the Egyptian women's spring?
Like with Isaac and Abraham, perhaps God was just kidding.
Ismael! Leave the Vulva alone, it's perfectly fine the way I made it!
QQ : 10 STUCK
I have yet another plea, maybe a prayer. Bessie Smith lay dying in a roadside ditch waiting for a black ambulance that arrived too late. She sang about "some sugar in her bowl" and pre-empted Madonna and Lady Gag Gag by about 100 years.
There is plagiarism and just unpleasant cultural mining that is unforgivable. Lady Gag Gag's latest is a great motivator for cultural censorship, or if she had balls, then their removal. "Stuck on Fuckin You" Gag Gag's latest single release, or "drop" as they call it these days is a monument to exploitive poor taste, a cultural crime, and an example of offensive puerile excrement without art, artifice, drama, poetry or of value of any kind.
Bessie Smith had this genre down one hundred years ago and made it art, made it sexy, made it erotic and made it fun. Contemporarily, Cee Lo Green said "Fuck You" with finesse. Gag Gag makes it an insult. Speaking of vaginas and their value, Gag Gag's release of this tune is a cultural hole. In fact, I'd rather listen to Hole with its sonically dark and dangerous underbelly. At least Courtney Love is a fantastic actress. She should do more movies.
So sue me.
QQ : 11 EQUAL TIME FOR DICK
Dick Cheney, Dick Santorum. Dick Nixon, Dick Perry, Dick Helms, Dick Lugar and there are many more Dicks where these came from.
Etched on my Stone Tablet.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
QQ : NUMBER NINETEEN - December 13, 2011
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
Tis the Season. Fa- la- la- la-la
QQ : 1 SURVIVAL OF THE FIT
It was not evolutionary superiority that permitted my mother and my father to survive the camps.
Nor was their survival the product of intelligent design. There was nothing intelligent about it.
All their other immediate family didn’t survive.
My parents both spent the remainder of their lives pondering the un-answerable question:
Why did they survive? Why them?
QQ : 2 FATE
Day by day, it seems one or another of my peers and colleagues are facing their maker.
One ponders the same question; why them, and why now?
Who's the decider?
QQ : 3 THE MEANING OF LIFE
I had a mystical experience as I walked by the mounds of earth containing thousands of bodies at Bergen Belsen.
The signs said: “Here lie 30,000 dead” and then “Here lie 25,000 dead” and a few meters later, “Here lie 20,000 dead”.
The day was dead calm when suddenly a gale force wind came up.
The wind was so strong, it literally blew me out of there.
The message was clear. Get out of here! Make some music!
Make up for the melodies that were lost.
Have a life! Carry on!
QQ : 4 VERDI'S REQUIEM
Despite the most inhumane conditions at Terezin where life was not an option, music uplifted and inspired. My mother sang in the 150 voice choir for 16 performances of Verdi’s Requiem while the sick and starving dropped around her.
Perhaps it was the Verdi that saved her.
Giuseppe Verdi designed an intelligent tune or two.
QQ : 5 THE EURO
And now Germany is back. Germany has the Money, the Resources and the Will. They also have Rules. Germany always has rules.
How ironic that the world's economy teeters on the brink and it is within Germany's power to save us. Am I my father's son? Do the sins of the father pass on? Should we be afraid?
Angela seems so benign. Chancellor or Fuhrer?
QQ : 6 DECK THE HALLS
I have an idea! Let's invent a religion.
All religions need holidays. Let's start with that.
The first holiday involves a rabbit and eggs. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the rabbit or the eggs, but there's a start.
The next holiday involves a dead pine tree in your house draped with some aluminum foil and plastic stuff, and something about a fat man in a red suit who climbs down your chimney. He needs cookies and milk.
If we don't like that religion, we could invent anther one that cuts of bits of penises and prohibits oysters and bacon.
Most religions also mandate funny hats.
Maybe that’s all too violent, especially for the fat man in the chimney.
I personally like the one that prevents women from driving. Makes for less traffic and pollution.
QQ : 7 REL-I-GION
The problem with religion is that right outside Bergen Belsen, the place that I was blown out of, are regular, jolly-looking. well-kept family homes that look out over the camp.
Gestopo officers and their familes sat around the tannenbaum at this time of the year and sang carols and said their prayers and dreamed of the utopia of the master race once they got rid of the undesirables on the other side of the barbed wire.
QQ : 8 UTOPIA
All religions are utopian. They seek an ideal way of life.
I think Fundamentalists who seek to impose their concept of an idyllic life on others because they have received a message from God, should be regarded as insane.
You cannot impose utopia. The attempt to impose a utopian ideal is a crazy act.
Ethnic cleansing is not utopian. Child labour is not utopian. The elimination of social welfare is not utopian and the free market allowed to dominate without controls is not utopian.
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney seek to impose their concept of a utopian ideal.
They are both insane.
QQ : 9 OFF WITH YOUR HEAD
Say bad things....go to jail, or even "off with your head"!
The "Satanic Verses" was an "off with your head" offence.
And don't say anything mean about the The King of Siam. Deborah Kerr might break out in song.
Don't make an image of the prophet, cover your head, cover your face, face East, genuflect, wear a box on your head, put a sign on your door, count beads and beat your breast, "practice" celibacy until you get it right and remove parts of your anatomy. Chant, sway, pray, flay, get stoned if you work on the sabbath day. Wear white, wear black, don't shave, wear a funny hat and never even think about covetting your neighbor‘s ass.
Do all of this and heaven awaits with the utopian afterlife.
QQ : 10 TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
Perhaps we need to invent new ceremony.
We could celebrate peace in the Middle East with an annual giving of our time to those who need it. It occurs to me that our time is the most valuable thing that we have. It is limited, absolutely.
We could celebrate the cure for cancer with an annual, ritual, community meal of exclusively, locally- grown, organic food.
We could celebrate the elimination of carbon-based fuels with a decorated, live camellia tree at a community center with music and dance.
But then again, we seem to prefer the more primitive ritual involving eggs and bunnies, dead pines and fat old guys in red suits. And avoid those oysters at all cost, otherwise G-d will strike you down! And if not for that, then for inserting the forbidden "o" in the word.
Etched on my stone tablet.
Tis the Season. Fa- la- la- la-la
QQ : 1 SURVIVAL OF THE FIT
It was not evolutionary superiority that permitted my mother and my father to survive the camps.
Nor was their survival the product of intelligent design. There was nothing intelligent about it.
All their other immediate family didn’t survive.
My parents both spent the remainder of their lives pondering the un-answerable question:
Why did they survive? Why them?
QQ : 2 FATE
Day by day, it seems one or another of my peers and colleagues are facing their maker.
One ponders the same question; why them, and why now?
Who's the decider?
QQ : 3 THE MEANING OF LIFE
I had a mystical experience as I walked by the mounds of earth containing thousands of bodies at Bergen Belsen.
The signs said: “Here lie 30,000 dead” and then “Here lie 25,000 dead” and a few meters later, “Here lie 20,000 dead”.
The day was dead calm when suddenly a gale force wind came up.
The wind was so strong, it literally blew me out of there.
The message was clear. Get out of here! Make some music!
Make up for the melodies that were lost.
Have a life! Carry on!
QQ : 4 VERDI'S REQUIEM
Despite the most inhumane conditions at Terezin where life was not an option, music uplifted and inspired. My mother sang in the 150 voice choir for 16 performances of Verdi’s Requiem while the sick and starving dropped around her.
Perhaps it was the Verdi that saved her.
Giuseppe Verdi designed an intelligent tune or two.
QQ : 5 THE EURO
And now Germany is back. Germany has the Money, the Resources and the Will. They also have Rules. Germany always has rules.
How ironic that the world's economy teeters on the brink and it is within Germany's power to save us. Am I my father's son? Do the sins of the father pass on? Should we be afraid?
Angela seems so benign. Chancellor or Fuhrer?
QQ : 6 DECK THE HALLS
I have an idea! Let's invent a religion.
All religions need holidays. Let's start with that.
The first holiday involves a rabbit and eggs. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the rabbit or the eggs, but there's a start.
The next holiday involves a dead pine tree in your house draped with some aluminum foil and plastic stuff, and something about a fat man in a red suit who climbs down your chimney. He needs cookies and milk.
If we don't like that religion, we could invent anther one that cuts of bits of penises and prohibits oysters and bacon.
Most religions also mandate funny hats.
Maybe that’s all too violent, especially for the fat man in the chimney.
I personally like the one that prevents women from driving. Makes for less traffic and pollution.
QQ : 7 REL-I-GION
The problem with religion is that right outside Bergen Belsen, the place that I was blown out of, are regular, jolly-looking. well-kept family homes that look out over the camp.
Gestopo officers and their familes sat around the tannenbaum at this time of the year and sang carols and said their prayers and dreamed of the utopia of the master race once they got rid of the undesirables on the other side of the barbed wire.
QQ : 8 UTOPIA
All religions are utopian. They seek an ideal way of life.
I think Fundamentalists who seek to impose their concept of an idyllic life on others because they have received a message from God, should be regarded as insane.
You cannot impose utopia. The attempt to impose a utopian ideal is a crazy act.
Ethnic cleansing is not utopian. Child labour is not utopian. The elimination of social welfare is not utopian and the free market allowed to dominate without controls is not utopian.
Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney seek to impose their concept of a utopian ideal.
They are both insane.
QQ : 9 OFF WITH YOUR HEAD
Say bad things....go to jail, or even "off with your head"!
The "Satanic Verses" was an "off with your head" offence.
And don't say anything mean about the The King of Siam. Deborah Kerr might break out in song.
Don't make an image of the prophet, cover your head, cover your face, face East, genuflect, wear a box on your head, put a sign on your door, count beads and beat your breast, "practice" celibacy until you get it right and remove parts of your anatomy. Chant, sway, pray, flay, get stoned if you work on the sabbath day. Wear white, wear black, don't shave, wear a funny hat and never even think about covetting your neighbor‘s ass.
Do all of this and heaven awaits with the utopian afterlife.
QQ : 10 TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
Perhaps we need to invent new ceremony.
We could celebrate peace in the Middle East with an annual giving of our time to those who need it. It occurs to me that our time is the most valuable thing that we have. It is limited, absolutely.
We could celebrate the cure for cancer with an annual, ritual, community meal of exclusively, locally- grown, organic food.
We could celebrate the elimination of carbon-based fuels with a decorated, live camellia tree at a community center with music and dance.
But then again, we seem to prefer the more primitive ritual involving eggs and bunnies, dead pines and fat old guys in red suits. And avoid those oysters at all cost, otherwise G-d will strike you down! And if not for that, then for inserting the forbidden "o" in the word.
Etched on my stone tablet.
Monday, 5 December 2011
QQ : NUMBER EIGHTEEN - December 5, 2011
A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
IT'S ALL A MATTER OF DEGREE
QQ : 1 DRY ICE
Sarah Palin is hot. She radiates the warm blood of a freshly-killed moose.
Michelle Bachmann is cold. Dry ice is the solid form of Carbon Dioxide. Her detractors claim that CO2 is warming the earth.
Michelle has celestially-inspired, contrary evidence.
Dry ice must be the answer to global warming when hell freezes over, or when she becomes president.
Which-ever event happens first.
QQ : 2. MARLBORO MAN
Bubba Clinton is hot. He blows the saxophone and got blown.
Jazz is either hot or cool. Jazz is not smooth. Bubba does not blow smooth.
Barry Obama does not play the saxophone. He blows Marlboro Lights.
That is not cool and he is not hot.
Barry is smooth and getting smoother as he slides away into the smoke and mirrors of a compromising wasteland of indecision and failed commitments. Smooth jazz is not jazz.
QQ : 3. DIG GRUNDIG
Recorded music was hot on an early sixties Grundig Stereo Console playing vinyl.
Analog tape-recording achieved a theoretical fidelity that was infinite with respect to human hearing capabilities.
When music was sampled and digitized, the sample rate has always been limited by cost and memory limitations.
The heat is lost. Digitized music is cold.
Not only is digitized music emotionally cold, it is economically cold.
Digitized music has lost its economic heat.
99 cents is too much to pay for cold noise.
QQ : 4. TECHNICOLOR
When Jazz was hot, Jackson Pollock painted Charles Mingus.
When Jazz was cool, Mark Rothko painted Thelonius Monk.
When Jazz got smooth, George W Bush painted Kenny G in monochrome.
QQ : 5. INFLUENZA WITHOUT FEVER
When Bob Dylan rocked, he a'changed the times. The streets were on fire.
When Curt Cobain burned, the boys were hot with anger and rage.
When Rihanna sings, we chill.
The New York Times describes Drake's new album in the context of form without content.
That's cold. 99 cents is too much to pay for the common cold.
QQ : 6 IT'S A GAS GAS GAS
When Jack Kerouac was "On The Road" there was no speed limit.
That was sizzling hot.
Jack was also the architect of cool.
When I tried to re-trace his steps during the gasoline crisis the speed limit was fifty-five miles per hour.
My electric-blue 1964, T-Bird convertible with hydraulic, retractable hard top was the ultimate in cool.
That said - when the Texas Highway Patrol issued my speeding ticket, that almost blew my cool
Jumping' Jack Flash, you were a gas.
QQ : 7. THE COOL OF TEPID
The new feudalism has established the separation of powers; those with heat and those without.
It seems that the Middle Class was a social construct that is no longer needed by the hot 1%.
The problem is that when the serfs start to freeze, they will find a way to keep warm at some cost to those who denied them the means to keep warm in the first place.
Even though the Middle Class may be an artificial, luke-warm construct, it forms the glue that maintains a balance that is civilizing.
Without it, we are tribal and primitive.
Perhaps ‘tepid’ is the necessary petrie dish for growth, culture and innovation.
QQ : 8 NINETY EIGHT DEGREES
Truth burns. Truth scalds. Truth cuts.
As mortal beings, we exist in denial.
Our current, universally-accepted state of denial is: that we as individuals do not share responsibility for our larger global dilemmas.
Blame?
Protest?
Occupy?
Teachers‘ unions are not responsible for the breakdown of the family.
Wall Street is not responsible for the lack of legislative regulation.
It is not Europe's fault that Greek oligarchs refuse to pay taxes.
Hitler did not come to power without the assistance of Ford, DuPont, GM and GE.
And then there are the Koch brothers.
A vote for Mitt, Newt, The late great Herm or the two Dicks is a vote for the Koch.
The SCOTUS tells us that the Koch are people.
I'm not so sure. I would like to take their temperature to see if they are alive. Rectally.
QQ : 9 ABSOLUTE ZERO
They say that hell is a hot place. Global warming?
QQ : 10. KELVIN
The internal combustion engine is conceptually unchanged since its original invention 100 years ago. It depends on fire. That fire is destructive.
Nuclear reactors depend on a controlled explosion of unstable uranium.
The waste material is eternally destructive.
With what we perceive to be unprecedented access to technological innovation and infinite computing power, our dependence on ancient sources of heat is majorly uncool.
IT'S ALL A MATTER OF DEGREE
QQ : 1 DRY ICE
Sarah Palin is hot. She radiates the warm blood of a freshly-killed moose.
Michelle Bachmann is cold. Dry ice is the solid form of Carbon Dioxide. Her detractors claim that CO2 is warming the earth.
Michelle has celestially-inspired, contrary evidence.
Dry ice must be the answer to global warming when hell freezes over, or when she becomes president.
Which-ever event happens first.
QQ : 2. MARLBORO MAN
Bubba Clinton is hot. He blows the saxophone and got blown.
Jazz is either hot or cool. Jazz is not smooth. Bubba does not blow smooth.
Barry Obama does not play the saxophone. He blows Marlboro Lights.
That is not cool and he is not hot.
Barry is smooth and getting smoother as he slides away into the smoke and mirrors of a compromising wasteland of indecision and failed commitments. Smooth jazz is not jazz.
QQ : 3. DIG GRUNDIG
Recorded music was hot on an early sixties Grundig Stereo Console playing vinyl.
Analog tape-recording achieved a theoretical fidelity that was infinite with respect to human hearing capabilities.
When music was sampled and digitized, the sample rate has always been limited by cost and memory limitations.
The heat is lost. Digitized music is cold.
Not only is digitized music emotionally cold, it is economically cold.
Digitized music has lost its economic heat.
99 cents is too much to pay for cold noise.
QQ : 4. TECHNICOLOR
When Jazz was hot, Jackson Pollock painted Charles Mingus.
When Jazz was cool, Mark Rothko painted Thelonius Monk.
When Jazz got smooth, George W Bush painted Kenny G in monochrome.
QQ : 5. INFLUENZA WITHOUT FEVER
When Bob Dylan rocked, he a'changed the times. The streets were on fire.
When Curt Cobain burned, the boys were hot with anger and rage.
When Rihanna sings, we chill.
The New York Times describes Drake's new album in the context of form without content.
That's cold. 99 cents is too much to pay for the common cold.
QQ : 6 IT'S A GAS GAS GAS
When Jack Kerouac was "On The Road" there was no speed limit.
That was sizzling hot.
Jack was also the architect of cool.
When I tried to re-trace his steps during the gasoline crisis the speed limit was fifty-five miles per hour.
My electric-blue 1964, T-Bird convertible with hydraulic, retractable hard top was the ultimate in cool.
That said - when the Texas Highway Patrol issued my speeding ticket, that almost blew my cool
Jumping' Jack Flash, you were a gas.
QQ : 7. THE COOL OF TEPID
The new feudalism has established the separation of powers; those with heat and those without.
It seems that the Middle Class was a social construct that is no longer needed by the hot 1%.
The problem is that when the serfs start to freeze, they will find a way to keep warm at some cost to those who denied them the means to keep warm in the first place.
Even though the Middle Class may be an artificial, luke-warm construct, it forms the glue that maintains a balance that is civilizing.
Without it, we are tribal and primitive.
Perhaps ‘tepid’ is the necessary petrie dish for growth, culture and innovation.
QQ : 8 NINETY EIGHT DEGREES
Truth burns. Truth scalds. Truth cuts.
As mortal beings, we exist in denial.
Our current, universally-accepted state of denial is: that we as individuals do not share responsibility for our larger global dilemmas.
Blame?
Protest?
Occupy?
Teachers‘ unions are not responsible for the breakdown of the family.
Wall Street is not responsible for the lack of legislative regulation.
It is not Europe's fault that Greek oligarchs refuse to pay taxes.
Hitler did not come to power without the assistance of Ford, DuPont, GM and GE.
And then there are the Koch brothers.
A vote for Mitt, Newt, The late great Herm or the two Dicks is a vote for the Koch.
The SCOTUS tells us that the Koch are people.
I'm not so sure. I would like to take their temperature to see if they are alive. Rectally.
QQ : 9 ABSOLUTE ZERO
They say that hell is a hot place. Global warming?
QQ : 10. KELVIN
The internal combustion engine is conceptually unchanged since its original invention 100 years ago. It depends on fire. That fire is destructive.
Nuclear reactors depend on a controlled explosion of unstable uranium.
The waste material is eternally destructive.
With what we perceive to be unprecedented access to technological innovation and infinite computing power, our dependence on ancient sources of heat is majorly uncool.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
QQ : NUMBER SEVENTEEN - November 23, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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