so, i'm looking at the propaganda on my coffee cup...
kids. camp. i dunno if this is worthy or not.
i went to camp once....for a few minutes. it was my mom that insisted on it, actually. this was in the olden days, before the internet. if it was tomorrow, i'd certainly bring a laptop - and probably be the only one without one if i didn't. as it was, i brought a stack of books and a guitar; i'll admit i was a little unclear on the concept. they actually attempted to confiscate the books, and i immediately walked out in protest.
maybe that's just the point; i don't really understand what the benefit is. i mean in my gut, as intuition. i guess i could read a sociology essay explaining how it builds friendships and tests adversity, but that strikes me as an idealization that most participants never actually experience. is there any data to uphold the argument, or are you just going to cite mark twain or something?
i'd cautiously suggest that sending kids to summer school would be more productive.
but, that's probably why i'm a nerd.
Monday, May 15, 2017
so, after losing the last month to editing for court, i'm going to try to get back on track this week.
the february 17th vlog will publish at midnight on the 19th, and there are then vlogs ready to go from that day until mid august. i'll need to deal with that.
part of what that means is working through the concert reviews backwards, or at least more or less catching up. i'll want to be back to the larger overhaul soon, but there's just a long list of random things i'm trying to get a handle on. that has to be the week: all these various things need to get done.
the february 17th vlog will publish at midnight on the 19th, and there are then vlogs ready to go from that day until mid august. i'll need to deal with that.
part of what that means is working through the concert reviews backwards, or at least more or less catching up. i'll want to be back to the larger overhaul soon, but there's just a long list of random things i'm trying to get a handle on. that has to be the week: all these various things need to get done.
mccain...
well, he made it the eight years, anyways. if that was your major argument, it turned out to be flawed.
i've stated repeatedly that, on the issues as they were articulated, clinton really barely swayed me; it was like a 51-49 split. you could even argue that i got triangulated, and i was on the very furthest fringe of anybody willing to actually vote for her. that is, you could argue that this is what the clinton brand is all about: you give liberals a millimetre, then stand back and watch while they work it out and eventually take it. and, i wasn't happy about it at all.
obama beat mccain in my mind by a bigger margin, but it was more like obama was mccain-lite. by being mccain-lite (he wasn't even romney lite....he was a mirror reflection of romney....), he managed to dominate him. but, the thing is that that also meant that he lacked mccain's broader insight.
i don't want to be confusing, so i'll state it clearly: mccain is unstable. he's constantly lying. and, the beach boys are overrated. but, he understands what's going on around him better than pretty much anybody else, right now. obama probably stopped some of mccain's excesses from spiralling out of control, but he also made some mistakes that mccain wouldn't have made.
if trump does in the end start world war three, you almost want him to run as a churchillian candidate.
they say history repeats as farce...
well, he made it the eight years, anyways. if that was your major argument, it turned out to be flawed.
i've stated repeatedly that, on the issues as they were articulated, clinton really barely swayed me; it was like a 51-49 split. you could even argue that i got triangulated, and i was on the very furthest fringe of anybody willing to actually vote for her. that is, you could argue that this is what the clinton brand is all about: you give liberals a millimetre, then stand back and watch while they work it out and eventually take it. and, i wasn't happy about it at all.
obama beat mccain in my mind by a bigger margin, but it was more like obama was mccain-lite. by being mccain-lite (he wasn't even romney lite....he was a mirror reflection of romney....), he managed to dominate him. but, the thing is that that also meant that he lacked mccain's broader insight.
i don't want to be confusing, so i'll state it clearly: mccain is unstable. he's constantly lying. and, the beach boys are overrated. but, he understands what's going on around him better than pretty much anybody else, right now. obama probably stopped some of mccain's excesses from spiralling out of control, but he also made some mistakes that mccain wouldn't have made.
if trump does in the end start world war three, you almost want him to run as a churchillian candidate.
they say history repeats as farce...
what mccain is talking about, here, is propaganda.
but, he's right.
america's hegemony relies on it's perception as the good cop. it's always been bullshit. but, it's imperative that the myth be upheld, or the empire will fall apart.
i'll fill in the blanks that mccain was afraid to even type lest somebody piece together the implication: if by "realism", you mean the idea that america can rule the world by threatening and bullying other nations into doing what it wants, then that is a perversion of the concept of reality: that is the world that you wish existed, not the one that actually exists.
in the world that actually exists, america is only as powerful as it's reputation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/opinion/john-mccain-rex-tillerson-human-rights.html
but, he's right.
america's hegemony relies on it's perception as the good cop. it's always been bullshit. but, it's imperative that the myth be upheld, or the empire will fall apart.
i'll fill in the blanks that mccain was afraid to even type lest somebody piece together the implication: if by "realism", you mean the idea that america can rule the world by threatening and bullying other nations into doing what it wants, then that is a perversion of the concept of reality: that is the world that you wish existed, not the one that actually exists.
in the world that actually exists, america is only as powerful as it's reputation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/opinion/john-mccain-rex-tillerson-human-rights.html
they're not supposed to win in aghanistan.
if they were to win, they'd have to pull out.
what they're supposed to do is occupy the country. and, they need a bullshit reason to distract from the real reason, which is to frustrate chinese shipping interests and otherwise just have guns in the sky overlooking asia from all directions.
this war will never end, and if you're waiting for it to end, or criticizing people for not being able to "win" it, you're not understanding it.
nato wants perpetual war in afghanistan to justify the bases.
if they were to win, they'd have to pull out.
what they're supposed to do is occupy the country. and, they need a bullshit reason to distract from the real reason, which is to frustrate chinese shipping interests and otherwise just have guns in the sky overlooking asia from all directions.
this war will never end, and if you're waiting for it to end, or criticizing people for not being able to "win" it, you're not understanding it.
nato wants perpetual war in afghanistan to justify the bases.
i just want to say something about the walk through the eastern part of downtown detroit, which i'd never wandered through before and will probably not wander through again, if i can avoid it.
it's really legitimately gone. i was a five minute drive from downtown, and i was walking through abandoned lots, and glowering at coyotes in the shadows. coyotes actually don't camouflage well in the city because the grey reflects in the moonlight. they'd do much better in the snow, mind you. see, the eastern coyotes nowadays are actually half wolf; the lighter colour in a warmer climate is not a winning combination, which is possibly a factor in the migration into cities. they'll stand there and watch you from a safe point, calculating whether they think they can win a fight with you or not. what you need to do in that situation is walk in the middle of the road. they think they're better camouflaged than they actually are and won't want to walk towards the streetlights. i'll just say that i saw more than one.
the habitat is actually ideal. these were either big lots when they had houses on them, or they're the culmination of several abandoned lots side by side. there's nothing left. no foundation. no driveway. if you didn't know better, you'd think there was never anything there.
you'd be forgiven for thinking it makes downtown detroit feel like a forgotten ghetto. i wasn't here a few years ago; maybe there was a time when that was true. today, even the ghetto is gone. it's not like that at all. and, it's not even like suburbia. it feels more like you're walking through the very edges of a city, that point where civilization meets the forest. when you come out of it, you don't expect to come across a city street so much as you expect to come across a farm, or a truckstop diner on the interstate....
i don't know what's to come of this place. maybe, in the end, they'll just let the trees go, and allow it to establish itself as an urban park. right now, it's just weird to experience.
....and, as i continually point out, the real danger is not people but wild canids.
it's really legitimately gone. i was a five minute drive from downtown, and i was walking through abandoned lots, and glowering at coyotes in the shadows. coyotes actually don't camouflage well in the city because the grey reflects in the moonlight. they'd do much better in the snow, mind you. see, the eastern coyotes nowadays are actually half wolf; the lighter colour in a warmer climate is not a winning combination, which is possibly a factor in the migration into cities. they'll stand there and watch you from a safe point, calculating whether they think they can win a fight with you or not. what you need to do in that situation is walk in the middle of the road. they think they're better camouflaged than they actually are and won't want to walk towards the streetlights. i'll just say that i saw more than one.
the habitat is actually ideal. these were either big lots when they had houses on them, or they're the culmination of several abandoned lots side by side. there's nothing left. no foundation. no driveway. if you didn't know better, you'd think there was never anything there.
you'd be forgiven for thinking it makes downtown detroit feel like a forgotten ghetto. i wasn't here a few years ago; maybe there was a time when that was true. today, even the ghetto is gone. it's not like that at all. and, it's not even like suburbia. it feels more like you're walking through the very edges of a city, that point where civilization meets the forest. when you come out of it, you don't expect to come across a city street so much as you expect to come across a farm, or a truckstop diner on the interstate....
i don't know what's to come of this place. maybe, in the end, they'll just let the trees go, and allow it to establish itself as an urban park. right now, it's just weird to experience.
....and, as i continually point out, the real danger is not people but wild canids.
i was actually expecting saturday night, which i'm just waking up from now, to be an inexpensive evening. i didn't get home until 10:00 am.
the bar i was at had the sole option of over-priced gluten-free* beer (it was at least tasty.), but i wasn't about to accept the doldrums of sobriety, so i ate the unexpected cost and come home with $3.00 instead of $30.00. but, that's a disincentive around the bar, to say the least. the way i deal with this when i run into it is to pay out the first time and then take it as a learning experience: it's a place you want to pre-drink for, and then show up to as late as possible.
i wasn't going to have a lot of money for the rest of the month anyways, but there's now no chance of hitting adrian belew on wednesday. i'm planning for the weekend instead.
that's ok. there's lots of things i should do this week, including doing a lot of walking around outside. it's the first week of summer....
* according to the fine print on the can, (1) the company cannot guarantee that the beer is gluten free, (2) the product may contain gluten and (3) the product does, in fact, contain gluten.
the bar i was at had the sole option of over-priced gluten-free* beer (it was at least tasty.), but i wasn't about to accept the doldrums of sobriety, so i ate the unexpected cost and come home with $3.00 instead of $30.00. but, that's a disincentive around the bar, to say the least. the way i deal with this when i run into it is to pay out the first time and then take it as a learning experience: it's a place you want to pre-drink for, and then show up to as late as possible.
i wasn't going to have a lot of money for the rest of the month anyways, but there's now no chance of hitting adrian belew on wednesday. i'm planning for the weekend instead.
that's ok. there's lots of things i should do this week, including doing a lot of walking around outside. it's the first week of summer....
* according to the fine print on the can, (1) the company cannot guarantee that the beer is gluten free, (2) the product may contain gluten and (3) the product does, in fact, contain gluten.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)