I had the dubious pleasure of watching Mr. G. Beck confusedly rave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, thanks to a streaming live feed provided by MSNBC. If you missed it, you're probably kicking yourself right about now-- but it's all right, you really didn't miss much.
Mr. Beck's passion for oration is obvious, and matched only by his inability to form even one coherent, arguable point. The only message I could glean from his climactic address was that America's greatest flaw was wandering far from God, and that we should be much more religious-- in our personal lives and in the dealings of our country. The rest was a lot of disconnected palliatives about our inherent superiority. It made me think of The Merchant of Venice: "His reasons are as two grains of wheat in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search."
Anyway, it's pointless to even ask what the speech meant anyway, because the guy's clearly just shilling snake oil, liver pills, laudanum, tracts of bunco land. Having a point or outlining a course of action would be counter-productive, in Mr. Beck's case. It would lend some degree of definition, which is absolutely the last thing he wants. His vagueness and relentless back-pedalling are the perfect tools for his persona. Actually conveying any sort of specific information is anathema. He only wants people to pay attention. Anything beyond that he'll just make up as he goes along.
If you ask me, what it is is damned impressive. He's making an awful lot of money from some very befuddled people, and although it makes me feel like Goebbels to say it, I respect that.
And that's about as far as I'm willing to take it. I don't think the Beckster is going to instigate some nation-wide revolt, for a couple reasons. One is that he doesn't want to. He wouldn't know what to do if that actually happened. Two is that he has no message to rally behind, other than "Aggh! Look out!" Pressed for details on what we should be looking out for, or what to do about it, he dissolves into the choicest word-salad. No agenda, like I said. He's just making it all up on the spot. And third is that his followers seem to lack real vigor. These are not lean and hungry rebels. They lack the strength of their convictions, unless confusion, apathy, irascibility and disgruntled-ness are convictions. Also they're old.
Anyway, it was a muffled thud of an arguable success, for some people, probably, and it had bagpipes at the end, too!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Spaces
One probably should not blog when one has been drinking, but upon further reflection, what the fuck, let's live a little.
It seems that the further along science advances, one of the things that is beset upon the periphery of our awareness is that space means very little. And by that I mean, the physical space that separates you from things seems to mean less and less the more we learn about it.
For example, I just read an article that posited it was the action of neutrinos, produced by the sun, that caused the rates of radioactive decay to vary. This is quite startling, because up until now it was commonly held that rates of radioactive decay were NOT variable, that they were in fact static. But they began to find fluctuations in the patterns.
Why, they asked in forum, should this be so? And they began to suspect that it had to do with the predominant solar activity of the time. In other words, as the earth was closer to the sun, and thus bombarded by a greater number of solar neutrinos-- why, it would change the rate of radioactive decay. And likewise when the earth was further from the sun.
This is a peculiar thing to science. As one fellow pithily put it, (I'm paraphrasing), "This is a case of particles that don't affect anything changing something that doesn't change."
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. There is also evidence, in the quantum field, that once two quantum particles have been in contact (and here I'm going to mangle this terribly-- in another life I'm a quantum physicist, but that life is certainly not this one) they will alter the behavior of each of them. As one changes its spin, the other will affect a change in behavior, and vice versa. And the really peculiar part is that physical distance seems to have no dampening effect on this phenomenon-- the changes will register instantaneously, regardless of distance.
Now, it should come as a surprise to exactly nobody that all this was predicted long ago, put in words that of course have no scientific validity as such, but are plenty true nonetheless. I'm thinking specifically of Buddhist ideology, which holds as one of its central tenets the interconnectedness of all things. If this were true, they posit, there would be nothing complete and alone unto itself-- rather, that all things would affect it, and that it would affect all things.
Basically, what I'm interested in is that this seems to actually be the case, in at least some senses of the idea and in some particular manifestations.
To keep going on this particular path way out into the goofy ether, maybe this begins to explain some sort of phenomena that we all have an intuitive sense of, but have no proof whatsover-- telepathy, ESP, astral projection, whatever. While I'm certainly not going to come out and go "IT'S ALL TRUE GUYS, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW", what I do continually wonder is: what is the smallest particle that can inform us of something? In other words, how widespread and systemic does something have to be in our body before we become aware of it?
Put it like this: if something is affecting our entire circulatory system, there's a good chance we know about it. If we have pneumonia, it won't go unnoticed. There will be signs, symptoms, so forth. But to extrapolate from that, if something should affect one organ, one tissue, one molecule, one cell, one atom-- do we know? Can we tell? If one of our electrons should alter its spin based on a counterpart electron somewhere else, does this change anything in our being, behavior?
Perhaps not. They are, after all, very very very fucking small. But I wonder.
It seems that the further along science advances, one of the things that is beset upon the periphery of our awareness is that space means very little. And by that I mean, the physical space that separates you from things seems to mean less and less the more we learn about it.
For example, I just read an article that posited it was the action of neutrinos, produced by the sun, that caused the rates of radioactive decay to vary. This is quite startling, because up until now it was commonly held that rates of radioactive decay were NOT variable, that they were in fact static. But they began to find fluctuations in the patterns.
Why, they asked in forum, should this be so? And they began to suspect that it had to do with the predominant solar activity of the time. In other words, as the earth was closer to the sun, and thus bombarded by a greater number of solar neutrinos-- why, it would change the rate of radioactive decay. And likewise when the earth was further from the sun.
This is a peculiar thing to science. As one fellow pithily put it, (I'm paraphrasing), "This is a case of particles that don't affect anything changing something that doesn't change."
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. There is also evidence, in the quantum field, that once two quantum particles have been in contact (and here I'm going to mangle this terribly-- in another life I'm a quantum physicist, but that life is certainly not this one) they will alter the behavior of each of them. As one changes its spin, the other will affect a change in behavior, and vice versa. And the really peculiar part is that physical distance seems to have no dampening effect on this phenomenon-- the changes will register instantaneously, regardless of distance.
Now, it should come as a surprise to exactly nobody that all this was predicted long ago, put in words that of course have no scientific validity as such, but are plenty true nonetheless. I'm thinking specifically of Buddhist ideology, which holds as one of its central tenets the interconnectedness of all things. If this were true, they posit, there would be nothing complete and alone unto itself-- rather, that all things would affect it, and that it would affect all things.
Basically, what I'm interested in is that this seems to actually be the case, in at least some senses of the idea and in some particular manifestations.
To keep going on this particular path way out into the goofy ether, maybe this begins to explain some sort of phenomena that we all have an intuitive sense of, but have no proof whatsover-- telepathy, ESP, astral projection, whatever. While I'm certainly not going to come out and go "IT'S ALL TRUE GUYS, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW", what I do continually wonder is: what is the smallest particle that can inform us of something? In other words, how widespread and systemic does something have to be in our body before we become aware of it?
Put it like this: if something is affecting our entire circulatory system, there's a good chance we know about it. If we have pneumonia, it won't go unnoticed. There will be signs, symptoms, so forth. But to extrapolate from that, if something should affect one organ, one tissue, one molecule, one cell, one atom-- do we know? Can we tell? If one of our electrons should alter its spin based on a counterpart electron somewhere else, does this change anything in our being, behavior?
Perhaps not. They are, after all, very very very fucking small. But I wonder.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Hottest Day of the Year
This is a short story I wrote after having a very strange, but very clear dream. The dream itself happened one night in the middle of a massive heat wave-- the temperature got up to 107 at one point. Some of the scenes were complete unto themselves, so I added a few more to flesh it out into a story.
The Hottest Day
The Hottest Day
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Talkin'
Cherry soda pops and bottle tops. Does anyone here, a man among you, truly know what they're here for? 'Cause I sure as hell don't. And if you've found out please let me know. At the end of a day, it's all still a mystery. All, all. Where the daylight ends and the nighttime begins? It's all a mystery. How someone decides what's right for their own life? It's all a mystery. This is our last chance, this is ourselves. This is my last shot. Say goodbye to Madame George. I'm trying to write this poem but I can't. It's all about how the earth has a pull, the soil underneath your feet is a membrane, we forget, but it is. And it's constantly pulling you down, like when you fall through the floor. The other parts of your life, whatever keeps you distinct pulls you up. And you're constantly suspended between these two forces, one pulling your feet down into the ground, pulling your cells apart. And the other one keeps you together, keeps your cellular membranes intact, makes sure you don't turn into soil too soon. There was a time when I felt dead, quite dead, aboveground, that to be buried was only the formality of it all. I got better but I never forget about it. I was walking around in a coffin. But I still feel grateful because if I hadn't had spent all that time learning how to be dead so much of life wouldn't make any kind of sense. When I watch all the cruel dark people do what they do, and I think How could you do something like that, that doesn't make a lick of sense! But it does, if you've spent any time dead you'll know perfectly well what waits behind the wall, and it helps make sense. And then as I've said the stars are outlined and things are clearer. I've fucked it up a bunch of times but I'm lucky to have another chance, mostly because I know what the alternatives are, and they are no alternatives at all. When you fall through the floor. And someday I know I'll be able to take what is given, I have a hard time with that, I think, I just can't believe it when it happens. You made me hallucinate mushrooms and hear music and I will never never never never forget that.
Everyone have secret phrases, never tell anyone. Hidden. When I watch your faces metamorphosize I'm stunned, it's the most amazing thing I know. Your eyes melt and leak down your cheeks. Light comes out your eyes. See it once and you'll never mistake it again. Unmistakeable. How many things can you say that about? What is carrying you through the week? Inertia? I hate that, almost broke down crying in a grocery store this one time. Bought some tea and read about the Beatles, helped me feel better. Good thing that wishing would not so, would not make it so, ere he'd drop with a thought. Spent a long time learning, had to put my own head in order. The external world could wait, and so it did, and now I'm ready to talk to it. Phrases I have never told anyone, written like a Golem on my forehead. Hush, secrets, I hope you'll read my poems, I'm nearly finished which is the hardest part of all-- I think you'll like them, I have 48 of them and one or two lines are worth your time, I'd bet money. Marvelous, you didn't have to be kind but you did, I kiss you all.
Everyone have secret phrases, never tell anyone. Hidden. When I watch your faces metamorphosize I'm stunned, it's the most amazing thing I know. Your eyes melt and leak down your cheeks. Light comes out your eyes. See it once and you'll never mistake it again. Unmistakeable. How many things can you say that about? What is carrying you through the week? Inertia? I hate that, almost broke down crying in a grocery store this one time. Bought some tea and read about the Beatles, helped me feel better. Good thing that wishing would not so, would not make it so, ere he'd drop with a thought. Spent a long time learning, had to put my own head in order. The external world could wait, and so it did, and now I'm ready to talk to it. Phrases I have never told anyone, written like a Golem on my forehead. Hush, secrets, I hope you'll read my poems, I'm nearly finished which is the hardest part of all-- I think you'll like them, I have 48 of them and one or two lines are worth your time, I'd bet money. Marvelous, you didn't have to be kind but you did, I kiss you all.
Questionable Advice
If you feel that the ego or solidified self is getting in the way of the present, the best course of action is to confound or deliriate (make delirious) or disorient the current mind. Lack of food, sleep, ingestion of chemicals, basically anything to induce a breakdown, after which the rebuilding should take place in the desired atmosphere. The appurtenances and devices and appendages then grown will help adapt you in the way that you were unable to do before. It's why we enjoy the feeling of exhaustion and exertion, anticipating pleasurably the regrowth.
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