Vacation Time

Well, more like an extended weekend to go visit some friends from another life and to possibly get some fun pictures of me having a good time and not being in a foul mood (one can hope). I must say I'm finding it difficult to be a malcontent lately, complaining just doesn't sell when you are grinning like a possum. Not to worry though I'm sure I'll be primed for another rant in a few days. Who knows I might even branch out a little and blog about pleasant things in my life. Like the blind date I went on last night, it turned out to be a blast and we saw an incredible concert. Sheryl Crow has a new band and I was completely impressed with the new sound, they took a little of the clean, polite edge off and made it sound more convincing.

It's almost time for me to make my way to the airport, hopefully this flooding won't prevent my exodus from the east coast. I have found myself to be much more open to traveling these days than I was not too long ago. I think  I must be feeling better because I don't agonize for days over how long it will take me to recover from a trip. I still loathe sitting on an airplane wondering if I am going to catch something from the person next to me. I'm not really a germaphobe but I just hate getting coughed on as much as when someone is kicking the back of my seat.  Oops, I'm slipping in to malcontent mode again, I guess I will close for now and wish everyone a nice weekend while I am gone.

Sunday Drive

I spent a lovely afternoon driving the new car through the mountains to inspect the foliage for possible hints of the changing season. It was a day that required reaching way to the back of my CD collection for the Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs" to get the appropriate mood to accompany the rain. I had fully intended to conjure up a seething rant about some of the recent events in the news but I had such a pleasant time in the mountains that I left my anger and bitterness on the side of the road next to an ancient oak tree that seems to have kept many bags of negativity for those who no longer needed it as they move on up the mountain. A little further along the way I decided it was time to listen to some music by a friend on mine that I haven't listened to in a while and got a little reminder of how much I enjoy some people. Then this song came on and I got a little reminder, I could explain it but I think it is better for you to watch the video can see what is says for you.

Victor Wooten - I Saw God

After a wonderful afternoon I returned home and was greeted at the door by my fabulous, furry, feline friend Spike. Apparently he did not like that I spent a whole afternoon out enjoying myself and leaving him at home with a food dish that you could see a small bit of the bottom where he thought should have been covered. To his surprise I did stop off an the Petsmart down the street and bought him not only more food but some treats and some of his favorite rabbit fur mice toys. He seemed to change moods rather quickly once we got the food issue resolved and then we spent the nest 45 minutes playing with the new toys. I get a lot of grief from giving my cat a dogs name but I have a cat that likes to play fetch so I think it is very fitting. He is now curled up in a snug pile of fur taking a brief nap so that he will be charged up and ready to play again during my prime sleeping time around 4:30 in the a of m. Now to watch new season premier of my favorite program East Bound & Down, the show is about someone like I pretend I would like to be sometimes. Probably best that I only pretend to think I would enjoy being that guy but I do enjoy watching the ego and narcissism of  epic proportions.

Preparing for travel and trying to sell my old car this week then it's off to Texas to visit some old friend I haven't seen in more years than I car to remember. I have also given the David Foster Wallace books a break and I am partaking in a little Hunter S. Thompson in the intermission. I have also been listening to "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking that I downloaded from Audible.com. Audio books are pretty good but the readers have some horrible timing when reading the bits of humor that are included (note to self: have someone with a pulse read anything you listen to). I have also found some free audio books that fall into the public domain so maybe I will learn how to listen after all these years. I thought people were must teasing me about not listening but if you ever want to test your listening ability, check out one of Stephen Hawking's books. Thanks to the gReader app on my phone I will be able to follow my favorite blogs while out of town but I will be focused on gathering new content rather than trying to post from my touch screen phone, if you have tried one you will understand. Unless I have an overwhelmingly obscene experience in the next 3 days I will let this post breath for the week and when I get back I will fill this blog up with exploits of my hyjinks while on travel. If there were characters in literature remotely as colorful as my old friends I would probably read a lot more books.

Rescinded Transcendence

I am forever doubting my maturity because I often choose to indulge that silly little boy that exists somewhere deep inside of what makes me that person I enjoy so much. I do find myself reasoning that I have followed a positive evolutionary trail which has levitated me to an elevation that allows me to view the problems of yesterday from the top. My bulging confidence and over-endowed ego will distract me into believing that I can invincibly proceed into any endeavor sans my wits. It's typically a brief interlude as the disturbing sound of the cock crowing just before the dawn of reality kicking me in most painful way. As the delusion washes away and the awareness of my lack of omnipotence bashes away at my pride in much the same way as a blindfolded child swinging at a pinata. The final whack against my esteem awakens me to remember that I am once again being foolish and that I should really utilize great though about my actions prior to pursuing them if I choose to avoid the gray clouds that form from the virtuous misadventures.

New Car Pictures

Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid

Front View

After 5 long years of searching for what my next car would be, here it is. I'm looking forward to spending a little time driving again. The dealer claims that this car was only the 2nd of the color and model to arrive in the US so I kind of got lucky catching it as quickly as I did. I have a feeling the blue will become very popular in the future but the majority of colors are Black, White, and Silver. I suppose Red will be expected to be popular as well but this color seems to really work well for me.

I will definitely get the new car out this weekend and give it a few miles and hopefully I can take a few pictures of the country side. The leaves are starting to turn and all these trees will be looking fabulous pretty soon. Maybe getting out to see some nature will help inspire me to write a few more items that are worth reading.

Leave me a comment to let me know what you think of the new car.

Politics and Religion

Everyone's favorite 2 subjects to discuss as long as it is going the way that affirms their position. When in the minority it tends to be a much less enjoyable experience. I find myself in conflict with most at some point between the 2 subjects, or at least it sure feels that way. That is when I have these marvelous thoughts like how nice it would be if we could focus our discussions on what we have in common first then maybe, just maybe, it won't be so intense when we get to the things we disagree about. Unfortunately it seems that the amount of attachment to the outcomes that most people have makes this kind of difficult. I'm really kind of tired of talking to people who project the feeling that if you don't conform to their way of thinking they are going to smash you. Then again, I do kind of enjoy leading this type into the jungle and lead them around in circles for a while too.

The only time I really take issue with any of it is when a politician tries to persuade legislation to meet the religion they are trying to shove on people. To me that is offensive as someone telling people who can and who cannot do something based on some type of group that each are categorized as. I do understand that some degree of discrimination is required but I wish it could be limited to personal decisions like "this taste bad, I think I won't eat it." The world would be much more fun if so many people weren't so busy hating other people. I am a major malcontent and I find myself exhibiting some massive anger about some of the things that are happening but I really do try to leave the people out of it. Hopefully my rants and outrages serve the purpose to make our lives better.

Being election season I am finding myself way too absorbed in the political discourse where everyone is point at the other guys and saying those guys are going to ruin us rather than I see the path we should take to get out of this cave. I am truly amazed by some of the comments the politcos will make when nobody that is awake would possibly believe. It seems to be the American way to sling mud at your opponents. Civil discourse seems to be little more than a myth, at least that is something I can't remember seeing. We desperately need to have the dialog about political matters and it would make things better if we were more informed about the religions of others. I just fear it would end up in a brawl if we got the people who need to be there to show up.

Soon I hope to find something else to hold my attention so that I won't have to burn so much of my processing time trying to understand why one bunch wants to burn another's religious books or why one party wants to convince others that the party in power is some evil group that is out to take everyone's rights away. I miss the days when I had little else to occupy my mind than some mindless television program or planning what I'm going to do when I get a chance to go out and do something. I do feel a major rant about the current condition of movies and how disgusted we should all be by what is being presented at most venues, but that will be a couple of days. For the next few days I will likely remain immersed in following the conflicts that are piped into our living rooms in the form of cable news.

I enjoy hearing other people's opinions on many topics provided they do not present it in the way that a used car salesman shows you a car. I have a well functioning brain, well at least I think so and won't try to convince any of you that it's not defective, and I like to form my own opinions. I don't appreciate someone trying to convincing me that their church has the only path to a happy eternity and I am really annoyed by someone that says we can get out of debt by cutting taxes and hiring a bunch of people to keep our borders from someone crossing over without their appropriate papers. I'm especially disgusted by the bible touting, baby talking, mother types that think their hyper conservative views are going to keep our society moving into the future. I think my head is going to explode if this doesn't decrease soon.

My proposal is that we try to play nice and be tolerant with those who are civil and perhaps ignore those who are hording the toys in the sandbox. I try to be nice as much as I can between rants so I will close with leave me a comment to let me know what is on your mind and have a nice day.

Heavy Thoughts

Today is a day of heavy thoughts for me. Nine years ago today we had the terrorist attack which had quite an impact on me because of someone close being near one of the areas hit and was not able to get out of the area for several hours. There has also been some unsettling communication between family members today that has reduced the elevation of my brow a slight bit. Strangely enough I find myself drifting back to my thoughts about literary theory. I have been experimenting with several thing lately and I find it kind of amusing how much is missed by those who read really fast and take things for surface value. I have had kind of a theme going this week about questioning everything and I can't seem to get away from it.

The biggest questions of literary theory that have been on my mind lately are 1. who is the author writing for? and 2. what is the reader expecting from reading? Both of these questions can get very complex and can lead to heavy philosophical questions like is the author responsible for the readers well being and understanding. This opens up a lot of opportunities for me to explore some things that I would never considered otherwise. I have found that I am capable of presenting an convincing argument that I personally do not believe or having any real interest in because I have relieved myself of feeling responsible for the reader for a couple of things I have done. In doing so it has allowed me to add a 2nd level of communication somewhat embedded in the writing which turns out to be an interesting tool.

Misdirecting a reader with some heavy surface level thoughts, for example, allows the author to communicate some things that would typically make the readers mood go in a negative direction. If the author is then able to subtly inject some humor to lighten that mood a little, the reader should be less acutely activated by the piece. A little sugar to offset the taste of the medicine so to speak. This technique can also be used for the author to play pranks on the reader by making several suggestions of one reality only to remove the attachment to the belief that it might exist. This brings us back to the topic of this weeks theme, question information that is given to you.

I have made several disclaimers on this side about the fact that I do not assume responsibility for the accuracy in my comments or that I would even be representing my personal feelings or beliefs in these comments. Do I lie? Not when asked directly my opinion on something. Do I stretch the truth and exaggerate? By all means when I am writing something that I post here it has been "dramatized" for entertainment purposes. Which should make you ask is it for the entertainment of the writer or the reader, that is if you are following the theme of question everything. This authors intentions for the reader are to invoke a deeper thinking process, there is no malice behind any pranks or humor. I am a day dreamer and I hope to be able to take a few people to a similar place briefly.

My obsession with presenting multiple layers of a reality comes from my background in math, physics and engineering. The point of perspective can drastically alter what the observer is witness to. This has led to many false assumptions in science as well as in interpersonal relationships. Example only hearing half of a conversation someone is having on a phone, you only hear what is said by the person you are close to and have to rely on their ability to inform you of what else was said. Even if you later ask the person who was on the other end of the call, you have to rely on that person to relay what was said so there is not clear proof of exactly what was being said. My obsession does have a purpose for which my writings are leading to as time permits, a larger writing project.

I have considered writing a novel, which is something I might so at some point, but have decided that I can not spare the time to get that deep into my thoughts right now since I have other things going on like a job and such. I have also considered writing and educational item that explains the though process needed to solve highly complex problems without having to understand every detail, a guide to systems engineering. While that would be a wonderful time for me to get deeply into "how to" mode I have decided to let that rest a little longer too. That kind of leaves me with what I have been doing lately which is writing short pieces to attempt to evoke an emotion with whoever takes the time to read it. I like to day dream, especially while typing.

My recent trip to visit family allowed me to take part in an interesting conversation. We were sitting at the table going through a few of my dads personal items he left when he passed. There was a little reminder of how much of him is embedded in who I am. My nephew's girlfriend was sitting there with us and I'm not sure where it started but I went into an extended explanation of some kind followed my my mom telling the newest person to the situation that my dad would make up something and it could be so convincing that people would believe it for years and that he actually had no idea about the topic and was just having some fun. Yes I am guilty of this too. It comes from the concept of if a person is not willing to validate what they have been told then they deserve to believe it as it was told. Like I said earlier, there is no malice involved just the recommendation that you should validate what you think from time to time.

I am a huge fan of conspiracy theories because they are so much fun to pretend you believe them sometimes. I really enjoy trying to make a series of coincidences line up to seem like some kind of cosmic miracle. I like reading through the exhaustive efforts some people have gone to in order to propose something with a vague possibility at best. It is all great fun but when it comes to reality I have to laugh at most of these stories and accept them as entertainment. This bring forward the final question for today which has to do with how the reader reacts to something they read.

What if I was really motivated to take action because of something I read only to find out later that is was just somebody making stuff up? This brings us to the most critical of the questioning everything theme. Every person should take a little time to validate the source of their motivations. The more acute the desire for action the more important it is to understand where that desire is coming from, much avoid lynching when possible. My response is that if it is motivation to do something positive it doesn't matter if it was real or made up, use that motivation to do something good. The only way we can control our growth as individuals is to understand where we are and then carefully plan the best direction to proceed and to try not to just let things happen to us because we didn't want to take the time to think about what is going on around us.

The High Cost of Learning

Learning is not free, there is always some type of expense involve with learning. My college degree left me with a debt the equivalent value of a very nice full sized car. Some of the more important lessons I have learned were at the expense of losing or breaking something that was important at the time. Even as a child, I attended a public school which was funded by the property taxes from the county the schools was in. In the age of information, it would seem that the cost of learning would be on the decline. Even though it may appear to be free, they highest cost of learning is the lose of innocence. As I write this, I am cognitive of my attempts to get you to surrender some of your innocence and hope that you feel the exchange was worthy of the cost.

Supposedly one of the attributes of my personality that is the source of a mild charm according to those who have been fond of me for many years is my ability to cast doubt about the sincerity vs. sarcasm of anything I say. While I delight in being surrounded by the self-conflicted, my true motive is persuade my companions to not be stuck painting a fence whilst others are off fishing. I will admit that it is very difficult to get me to vocalize much in my communications but I do feel that when I do write I make up for a lifetime of silence. If my writing was a conversation at the pub I'm sure I would be the lonely guy babbling about things that require too much for most to wrap there minds around. On the occasion that I find myself with a captive audience, I do typically get thanks for having distilled a complexity into the simplicity that is easily digested.

This is the part where I begin to make a play to convince you to release your grip on your innocence. I find myself writing about M-Theory quite frequently and I realize that not everyone understands what it is. M-Theory, originally called string theory, suggest that when the universe is defined in terms of how the most minute particles interact with each other that it has the characteristics of a string when converted into an equation. It has since been described as more of a membrane than a string hence M is for membrane. I will spare you the details from a mathematics stand point and try instead to make an illustration of what this theory translates into. Although I could really enjoy spending a couple of months digging into the math because of the mental vigor that would result but I digress.

What does this membrane have to do with anything? Well the membrane is an invisible force that connects everything together from the tiniest sub-particle level. Yes, the universe can be looked at as a single item that is made up of an inter-connected collection of pieces that are used to form everything that exist. That means that you, I, and everyone else are connected with one another in the cosmic sense. I'm going to go a little further and let you know that we are also connected to everything else whether living beings, rocks, water, and a long list of things that we cannot even see. When you look at how connected everything is from this stand point, there are a lot of implications that everyone should take to heart.

Our connection to each other and everything would make a thinking person consider their actions and how they impact everything else. Projecting kindness and consideration would be how you hope that all of these other things we are connected with would be toward us so probably in the best interest of all to project kindness and consideration to all others. Yes I am saying don't throw a rock at a tree out of anger. When we consider that membrane that connects all of everything together in terms of Karma, if I act in anger or with malice toward something, throwing a rock at a tree, then it would be a fair return for me to get stung by a hornet to restore the balance within the membrane. The concept of the membrane really re-enforces the morals of the stories that we all heard as children.

I will be the first to admit that the number of books I have read in my life would total to a number less than my age. I have however gotten a great deal of mileage out of the books that I have read due to the intense philosophy associated with the books. Several years ago I was asked to perform some brief bits of music between sessions at a conference at which I met the author of a book which presented scientific evidence that prayer does have an effect on the outcomes. The author was a doctor who kept records on several hundred patients and how they fared and if their family would gather an pray or not. Along about the same time I read this book I was also grazing through many volumes of Carlos Casteneda's tales of shamanism he learned from an ancient tradition of Mayan origin. The membrane allows my mind to combine the information from both books into a related subject that is also congruent with the bible as well as the original telling through the story of Gilgamesh.

All the lessons point to how our interaction with each other and our environment, our universe, we could be very mindful of not only our actions but our thoughts as well. I have reviewed a fair amount of science related to metaphysical topics and have to say that the membrane concept helps explain psychic abilities in a much less scary way. The membrane theory seems to provide a level of comfort to me that I have never been able get through religion. I say this because it provides an explanation of how the collection of sub-particles that connect us all make it possible for me to see that we can exist for an eternity even though there will be some transformation of form at some point. Does this concept make me turn my head from religion? Not in the least because if someone has the capacity to be open minded enough to look for the relation you find that the best guides to being a contributer to the universe is taught through religions.

I did read most of a book by the Dalai Lama and I found his message and his attitude to be one of the most progressive of any I have encountered. It says rather directly that he is not sharing the teachings in an effort to recruit or convert people. He is sharing the ancient teachings in hopes that others can find a way to integrate the best parts into their own religion and spirituality. His philosophy is one of the best to show how it is possible to let everything freely flow together and we can still maintain peace. It also shows how not just the actions but the thoughts of hate and anger not only effect us as individuals but it has an impact on all of everything due to the way the membrane connects the universe. To me this gives me a major incentive to try really hard to banish the feelings of anger and hatred that seem to crop up every few minutes.

This is the point that I will ask you to take a deep breath and rest your eyes for a second then review some of the disclaimers I have posted around my blog, especially the frequently asked questions. Go ahead, I'll wait. OK, now that you are back lets see if we can wrap this up. What I have illustrated here is that in questioning everything you can see more than negatives in the answers. People assume that to question something will lead to negation. I propose that questing the information that is presented to you can also illuminate some extremely positive ideas as well. Yes I am a daydreamer and I have little concern for reality when I don't have to. I enjoy swimming in the ocean of my imagination and becoming immersed the potential for things considered impossible. Later I am able to synthesize some of these thoughts into usable tidbits within reality even though they sometimes seem a little outside of the realm of normal.

This is the point that I reward you for having chosen to surrender a little of the innocence you might have given up. While there is no way to prove of disprove a lot of what I have suggested and I am in no way suggesting that anyone believe what I have said in the preceding paragraphs. In my assuming the role of the teacher my motive was to provide you the pupil with an abstraction that will allow you to take away a much deeper message than what was presented on the surface. Take some time and let your mind sort through some of the possibilities that exist within your own mind. Take my conclusion for this piece as you are in control of your thoughts and actions, approach them as if everything you do and everything you think has an impact on the entire universe and you will find the importance to make the effort to do a little better each day. You can relax now.

Collective Selectiveness

I am truly impressed by the resolve of the masses to accept something as truth even though they have been show significant evidence to the contrary. It seems that over the last 10 years that any thing one says can be considered the facts if they repeat if enough times and then get 2 or 3 others to repeat it. This is not exactly new to the nature of humans. It has, however, gotten to a point that makes my stomach turn. What is the motivation for altering the truth? More times than not it about greed or lust. To what ends people will go for self-gain deserves a little thought.

If a couple of brothers inherited several billion dollars and still don't have enough, they would like spend most of their time either trying to make more or trying to hang onto as much as possible. Unlike Warren Buffet, who buys a business that is doing good and let's it keep on doing what it does best, some of these billionaire types would rather spend money perpetuating lies and meddling in politics. Convincing those who will blindly follow the craziest of ideas that a health care plan is going to lead us to genocide or that our elected leader is of an origin and religion that he is not. I like a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone, but at least try to use an occasional fact or two in you pitch.

Falsifications seem to be coming from all directions lately, fueling the hate and mistrust that has been growing like a fungus for longer than I have existed. Throughout history there have been many examples that have served as a tutorial for the current mayhem. End of the world theology happens to be a favorite of mine. I find it very amusing how many times a religious fanatic will convince the flock that on some day in the near future the world will end so they should surrender their worldly possessions and gather around for the mass suicide. The inability for individuals to think for themselves astounds me.

One of the recent usages of untruth stems from some horrid greed. This is a little tricky to find the correct starting point but I will pick the privatization of government functions has lead to some of the worst deception I can think of. Privatization of various institutions and prisons have lead to some of the most evil motivations to lie that once can imagine. One contractor running the prisons in Arizona that has ties to the governor of that state has worked out a plan that if they are able to arrest more illegal immigrants then he will collect more government dollars for processing them for a profit. This has lead to numerous scare tactics about drug related beheading activities in the desert that have never happened. This has turned a large part of the population against a group of people that are so poor they are willing to risk everything to try to provide for their families.

Other types of long term stay facilities for the treatment and care for people with mental challenges that have been being transitioned from state run to private for profit run have some really sad stories as well. People being medicated to a point that they are in "cold storage" and don't require a lot of maintenance. Others being used as unpaid labor while their care is being sponsored bringing an extra cha-ching for the handlers. The neglect and abuse that results from underpaid staff at these facilities is really the worst crime imaginable. All of these things are happening while the public is being told that the people are receiving the highest quality are that can be afforded.

Book burnings are always a big party, almost as much as protesting doctors who provide treatments that some see as a sin. Where they find these mindless, line dancing idiots that will act out against something they don't understand mystifies me. I'm pretty sure if someone was to ask the attendees of a book burning how many of them had actually read and understood the book they were burning it would a very small number who had and the rest would be taking someones word for the contents being evil in nature. It is like there is a fear of education or individualism that has infected part of that population to the point that if a parrot said "I am God." they would start praying to the parrot.

Religions have a long history of claiming the only path to righteousness and suggesting all others will lead to damnation. These fall under a unique category because they require the follower to first believe that is a creator or supreme being that is responsible for everything just because until recently nobody has been able to explain our existence without the magical plot devise we call God. I have to tip my hat to Stephen Hawkings for having the bravery for claiming that the M-Theory has removed the need for a creator to explain our existence. I'm sure his latest book will reach 451 degrees in many neighborhoods for that one. I can understand how the average person would not have the desire to validate these concepts because it takes years for the best mathematicians to reach a point where they can follow along. The proof is there if one is ready to take on that challenge otherwise the topic will require believing someone without first hand knowledge.

The complexities of interaction within our society will forever be polarized between those who believe and those who question. The believers have created the collective selectiveness by choosing what they believe or disbelieve and are convicted to these beliefs. The questioners may still believe most of the best story going but they will try to sort out a few facts. I think that our society probably needs both camps to make a balance with believers taking to each extreme and the questioners trying to find a common ground for them. Democracy is a slow process and does not always lead in the right direction at first but it is so accurate in the way it projects the public opinions on just about every topic. If the physicist have found an equation to explain it all they are doomed because most people can't grasp algebra. M-Theory save us.