Now here's one of my problems -- so much improbable information, I can never reach any impeccable conclusion. Which conjures up in my mind these wise Jewish rabbis sitting at the West Wall, each one "on-the-other-handing" the others. After a few hours of exhaustive theological give-and-take, the only thing left is to break for tea...!
Look, it was a given that ever since statisticians [ Rabbis or otherwise! ] got computers, they would keep generating a gazillion new studies. That's fine. Only not when each new study triggers another new study which totally contradicts the first new study. We've all seen the on-again-off-again reports about coffee...salt...dairy... aspirin ... vitamins,,,red wine...white wine...and risque women [ actually there is no statistical study on risque women, only some occasional improvised hands-on experiments ].
But now enough is enough...! Now the prestigious New York Times reports another new study that contradicts the last new study about the Internet. Just when we were beginning to believe the Internet allows us to slip into our own little cocoon of fellow thinkers/zealots, this new study says No! The new study claims the last study was wrong. The Internet is actually the "ideal marketplace of ideas" for thinkers/zealots of all kinds
Come to think of it, this new study rejecting the old study is simply returning to that even older study by Al Gore which claimed after inventing the Internet, he pronounced it "the finest tool democracy has ever had." He may be right. At least until the next new study currently being planned to investigate exactly how democratic risque women on the Internet really are...!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
3 FOR THE PRICE OF I
MAKING AN ASH OF YOURSELF
Does it make sense to say the ash clouds from the recent Iceland volcano somehow caused the death of the Polish President...the scandal in the Vatican...and the passage of the Health Bill?
Don't laugh! Several centuries BC there was another cataclysmic volcanic eruption, this one on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. According to some current biblical archaeologists, the clouds of ash from this event help explain the story of the Hebrews during their Egyptian Exodus.
In furiously trying to find human explanations for biblical miracles, the scholars use these ash particles to explain everything from the ten plagues brought on Pharaoh's Egypt to Moses' parting of the Red Sea.
I'm thinking if these folks are so anxious to de-miracle our Bible, maybe they can de-curse our Cubs...!
THEY WALK AMONG US
Other serious scholars believe there are surely life forms throughout our cosmos. With trillions of stars out there, the mathematical likelihood is strong. However, what about aliens here on planet earth?
Hollywood makes a speciality of this presumption, but apparently they're not the only ones. In a recent survey of 22 countries, 20% of the respondents report they are convinced alien life forms have already reached us. And are walking among us in earthling disguise.
It seems the Chinese and Indians are most inclined to believe this, while the Swedes and Dutch are the least. Funny -- my last boss was none of these nationalities, but surely an alien life form!
OZ AND I MOURN TOGETHER
Ding, dong the witch is dead/the wicked wicked witch....!
But now, sadly, so is the beloved Munchkin who pronounced her death. Mainhardt Raabe became iconic in the 13 on-screen seconds he had as the Munhckin Coroner reporting to Judy Garland that her house had fallen on the Wicked Witch of the East.
Raabe was only 3-foot-6, but he grew mammothly over the generations as one of the last surviving members of a glorious cast which continues to remind audiences all over the world: "There's no place like home..."
Don't laugh! Several centuries BC there was another cataclysmic volcanic eruption, this one on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. According to some current biblical archaeologists, the clouds of ash from this event help explain the story of the Hebrews during their Egyptian Exodus.
In furiously trying to find human explanations for biblical miracles, the scholars use these ash particles to explain everything from the ten plagues brought on Pharaoh's Egypt to Moses' parting of the Red Sea.
I'm thinking if these folks are so anxious to de-miracle our Bible, maybe they can de-curse our Cubs...!
THEY WALK AMONG US
Other serious scholars believe there are surely life forms throughout our cosmos. With trillions of stars out there, the mathematical likelihood is strong. However, what about aliens here on planet earth?
Hollywood makes a speciality of this presumption, but apparently they're not the only ones. In a recent survey of 22 countries, 20% of the respondents report they are convinced alien life forms have already reached us. And are walking among us in earthling disguise.
It seems the Chinese and Indians are most inclined to believe this, while the Swedes and Dutch are the least. Funny -- my last boss was none of these nationalities, but surely an alien life form!
OZ AND I MOURN TOGETHER
Ding, dong the witch is dead/the wicked wicked witch....!
But now, sadly, so is the beloved Munchkin who pronounced her death. Mainhardt Raabe became iconic in the 13 on-screen seconds he had as the Munhckin Coroner reporting to Judy Garland that her house had fallen on the Wicked Witch of the East.
Raabe was only 3-foot-6, but he grew mammothly over the generations as one of the last surviving members of a glorious cast which continues to remind audiences all over the world: "There's no place like home..."
Monday, April 19, 2010
AND BEFORE THE BIG BANG...?
Here in a green new spring, a dark old debate rages hotter than ever. How did we get here? And why? For centuries, we turned to religion for answers. Recently, to science. Somehow we've confused them as toe-to-toe enemies instead of shoulder-to-shoulder allies. Big mistake....!
The face of science has come to look like Darwin and his magnificent theory of Evolution. Meanwhile, the face of religion has come to look like smarmy televangelists and scandalous cardinals. And yet, many Darwinists believe in God, and many Religionists believe in Darwin. So maybe this state-of-war between science and religion is unfounded (possibly concocted).
Einstein presciently advised: "If you can't explain it simply, you just don't understand it well enough." Agreeing with that, lets see if we can explain this simply. After the evolutionists have had their eloquent say about the origins and mutations of the species (including us), we are still left to hear from the cosmologists. Accepting that evolution has been at work from the instant of the Big Bang, what can the cosmologists tell us was there the nanosecond BEFORE the Bang?
While the evolutionists quite properly say "that's the domain of cosmologists," the cosmologists quite properly add "we don't really know." Enter a third player -- Intelligent Design. Oh no, wait a minute! Isn't that introducing religion into science, trying to sneak it into the science classroom like they've done in the Kansas and Texas school systems?
Not necessarily.
True, some ID advocates are religionist wolves in sheep's clothing. However, other ID advocates are evolutionist sheep who just look like they're in wolves clothing. What this latter group argues is that the animal & human cells that have originated and evolved ever since the Big Bang are far far more complex than Darwin could ever have imagined. And so, as they examine these eloquent animal & human complexities with their vastly more complex instrumentations, they seem to be saying: Wait, this debate is not over yet. There's solid scientific evidence of intelligent design here, and not simply accidental evolution.
Voila, God....? No, not necessarily. But these neuro-biologists do posit some kind of design at work. OK, then how does that strike the high priest of atheistic Darwinism, Professor Richard Dawkins...? In a recent interview with TV documentarian Ben Stein, Dawkins granted this much: "Well, yes, I suppose there may have been some design or designer before the Bang; but that in itself must have had some design or designer before it."
Stein -- pressing his case that Intelligent Design does not have to mean a Biblical God -- concluded: "So you're admitting, sir, there could be some design or designer if we just keep looking back far enough before the Bang?" Dawkins sniffed, "Well, If that makes you feel better...."
Stein smiled, "Yes it does. That means we need to keep looking back and back before we shut our telescopes and say case closed." I'm not at all sure Dr Dawkins agreed. I am entirely sure that I do.
The face of science has come to look like Darwin and his magnificent theory of Evolution. Meanwhile, the face of religion has come to look like smarmy televangelists and scandalous cardinals. And yet, many Darwinists believe in God, and many Religionists believe in Darwin. So maybe this state-of-war between science and religion is unfounded (possibly concocted).
Einstein presciently advised: "If you can't explain it simply, you just don't understand it well enough." Agreeing with that, lets see if we can explain this simply. After the evolutionists have had their eloquent say about the origins and mutations of the species (including us), we are still left to hear from the cosmologists. Accepting that evolution has been at work from the instant of the Big Bang, what can the cosmologists tell us was there the nanosecond BEFORE the Bang?
While the evolutionists quite properly say "that's the domain of cosmologists," the cosmologists quite properly add "we don't really know." Enter a third player -- Intelligent Design. Oh no, wait a minute! Isn't that introducing religion into science, trying to sneak it into the science classroom like they've done in the Kansas and Texas school systems?
Not necessarily.
True, some ID advocates are religionist wolves in sheep's clothing. However, other ID advocates are evolutionist sheep who just look like they're in wolves clothing. What this latter group argues is that the animal & human cells that have originated and evolved ever since the Big Bang are far far more complex than Darwin could ever have imagined. And so, as they examine these eloquent animal & human complexities with their vastly more complex instrumentations, they seem to be saying: Wait, this debate is not over yet. There's solid scientific evidence of intelligent design here, and not simply accidental evolution.
Voila, God....? No, not necessarily. But these neuro-biologists do posit some kind of design at work. OK, then how does that strike the high priest of atheistic Darwinism, Professor Richard Dawkins...? In a recent interview with TV documentarian Ben Stein, Dawkins granted this much: "Well, yes, I suppose there may have been some design or designer before the Bang; but that in itself must have had some design or designer before it."
Stein -- pressing his case that Intelligent Design does not have to mean a Biblical God -- concluded: "So you're admitting, sir, there could be some design or designer if we just keep looking back far enough before the Bang?" Dawkins sniffed, "Well, If that makes you feel better...."
Stein smiled, "Yes it does. That means we need to keep looking back and back before we shut our telescopes and say case closed." I'm not at all sure Dr Dawkins agreed. I am entirely sure that I do.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
THE LAST LETTER FROM ROME
My last letter from Rome was dated the spring of 1944. My 29-year old-cousin Peter was serving as a gunner In Mark Clark's 5th Army which had just entered the city following the escaping Nazi divisions. I'm glad I saved it, because it was to be my last letter from Rome, from Peter, and from World War II. As I re-read the yellowing pages, I still treasure the words he scribbled to this admiring 14-year-old back home. And yet I fear his words might echo empty now in the spring of 2010....
"Jack, I'm not good with words, but seeing folks here cheering us with tears in their eyes makes me feel something I never felt: Pride in my country..." [66 springs later, instead I read about people angry at their country, because they say its government can't be trusted]
"I can't tell you how many of my buddies died ugly in this mud, but when we're done over here, no more wars...." [66 springs later, instead I read about new wars and why we have to keep fighting them]
"When I get home, I want you to stand up for my wedding. Dawn and I are going to raise a dozen beautiful kids..." [66 springs later, I read how marriage has sometimes become a little outdated, and having kids a little foolish]
"Yesterday, Pope Pius XII blessed the crowds in St Peters, and I was there with joy in my heart...." [66 springs later, Pius is being called a Nazi sympathizer, Benedict a criminal, and religion a fraud]
"If President Roosevelt ever comes to this city, they'll make him king for life..." [66 springs later, being an American president is more like being a target than a king, and he receives as many taunts as he does cheers]
We were told Peter died 10 days after this letter. Sniper fire from some die-hard Nazi left-behind. My hero cousin never returned to his America. The family wept for years. Sometimes, though, in a green new spring like this one, I wonder. If he were still here...
....would he recognize what many of us have become?
"Jack, I'm not good with words, but seeing folks here cheering us with tears in their eyes makes me feel something I never felt: Pride in my country..." [66 springs later, instead I read about people angry at their country, because they say its government can't be trusted]
"I can't tell you how many of my buddies died ugly in this mud, but when we're done over here, no more wars...." [66 springs later, instead I read about new wars and why we have to keep fighting them]
"When I get home, I want you to stand up for my wedding. Dawn and I are going to raise a dozen beautiful kids..." [66 springs later, I read how marriage has sometimes become a little outdated, and having kids a little foolish]
"Yesterday, Pope Pius XII blessed the crowds in St Peters, and I was there with joy in my heart...." [66 springs later, Pius is being called a Nazi sympathizer, Benedict a criminal, and religion a fraud]
"If President Roosevelt ever comes to this city, they'll make him king for life..." [66 springs later, being an American president is more like being a target than a king, and he receives as many taunts as he does cheers]
We were told Peter died 10 days after this letter. Sniper fire from some die-hard Nazi left-behind. My hero cousin never returned to his America. The family wept for years. Sometimes, though, in a green new spring like this one, I wonder. If he were still here...
....would he recognize what many of us have become?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
FINALLY, THE FACTS
FACTS ON TEA PARTYING
Finally someone's put some facts to the face of the Tea Party movement. Up until now, it's just been splashy impressions of angry crowds cheering Sarah Palin. CBS-TV conducted a research study which confirmed three assumptions, but also revealed three surprises.
The confirmed assumptions about the followers: Mainly white, mainly anti-government, mainly anti-Obama. The three surprises: Mainly higher income, mainly better educated, mainly confused by facts.
When it comes to facts: First, the Tea Partiers were confused when reminded the government they were against was providing them with the Social Security & Medicare programs they found "very essential." Second, the Tea Partiers were confused when asked if they would still pay big money to hear Sarah Palin speak at their rallies if she wasn't "very hot?"
No chance of that, though. With the fees she's collecting, Ms Palin can afford to stay looking "hot" right up to election time...
FACTS ON SLEEPING
It's official...! What you've always suspected...! You and lots of other Americans are always tired....!
The National Sleep Foundation reports that the average 25-60 year old American gets 6-7 hours of sleep leaving them chronically tired. On average we need 7-9 hours. Foundation chairman Thomas Balkin said, "One in four people report they missed work or family events because of tiredness. We call it 'poor sleep hygiene.' "
Balkin rounded up the usual suspects: Too much worry and/or too much pre-sleep stimulation such as TV watching. Who can argue with the obvious...? I just hope they didn't waste too much research funding to tell us what we already knew. Oh, and also to kill my standard excuse to my wife: "Honey, I'm just too tired to go with you...!"
The confirmed assumptions about the followers: Mainly white, mainly anti-government, mainly anti-Obama. The three surprises: Mainly higher income, mainly better educated, mainly confused by facts.
When it comes to facts: First, the Tea Partiers were confused when reminded the government they were against was providing them with the Social Security & Medicare programs they found "very essential." Second, the Tea Partiers were confused when asked if they would still pay big money to hear Sarah Palin speak at their rallies if she wasn't "very hot?"
No chance of that, though. With the fees she's collecting, Ms Palin can afford to stay looking "hot" right up to election time...
FACTS ON SLEEPING
It's official...! What you've always suspected...! You and lots of other Americans are always tired....!
The National Sleep Foundation reports that the average 25-60 year old American gets 6-7 hours of sleep leaving them chronically tired. On average we need 7-9 hours. Foundation chairman Thomas Balkin said, "One in four people report they missed work or family events because of tiredness. We call it 'poor sleep hygiene.' "
Balkin rounded up the usual suspects: Too much worry and/or too much pre-sleep stimulation such as TV watching. Who can argue with the obvious...? I just hope they didn't waste too much research funding to tell us what we already knew. Oh, and also to kill my standard excuse to my wife: "Honey, I'm just too tired to go with you...!"
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
THREE THOUGHTS ON THE TRAIL OF LIFE
EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN PYRAMID
In today's global economy, it's really true: If someone sneezes in New York, they catch a cold in London and Sidney. What in the world are we to do when we are so sardined into one another's lives like this? One thought is to remember that specific corner of the fish can that belongs just to us and no one else...!
thinkers -- religious and otherwise -- have been addressing this little corner for centuries. How to seek and find and secure that part of us which is the best part?
Some find this region of their lives while praying. Other while reading. Still others while holding the ones they love close to them at night just before going to bed. The finding is an action for which there are no specific maps, only compasses. However, it's the seeking which is most important. That commitment of head and heart to strip down the grand pyramids of our lives in order to excavate from their inner chambers that which is most sacred.
Each digger has their own particular tools, but of this much I am sure. What we all eventually find is vastly more than the contained remains of our goods and our body parts. Plaques, genes, hormones and DNA -- these are only the footprints hinting at the amazing journey which continues beyond the grave...
FROM THE ALPHA TO THE OPRAH
In today's global economy, it's really true: If someone sneezes in New York, they catch a cold in London and Sidney. What in the world are we to do when we are so sardined into one another's lives like this? One thought is to remember that specific corner of the fish can that belongs just to us and no one else...!
thinkers -- religious and otherwise -- have been addressing this little corner for centuries. How to seek and find and secure that part of us which is the best part?
Some find this region of their lives while praying. Other while reading. Still others while holding the ones they love close to them at night just before going to bed. The finding is an action for which there are no specific maps, only compasses. However, it's the seeking which is most important. That commitment of head and heart to strip down the grand pyramids of our lives in order to excavate from their inner chambers that which is most sacred.
Each digger has their own particular tools, but of this much I am sure. What we all eventually find is vastly more than the contained remains of our goods and our body parts. Plaques, genes, hormones and DNA -- these are only the footprints hinting at the amazing journey which continues beyond the grave...
FROM THE ALPHA TO THE OPRAH
No argument! Kitty Kelley's new tell-all book about Oprah proves once again that Oprah is Chicago. And Chicago is Oprah. Buyers are already flooding bookstores around the country. Rome may have its Coliseum...Cairo its pyramids...Oregon its bald-eagle. We've got Oprah.
Is this a good or a bad thing? Should a mayor close his city's streets and open his city's coffers to someone who doesn't even reside here? Well, those morality and money questions belong to others. All I know is I've watched her show from the wings at Harpo Studios where I once worked. When she hits that stage, they respond like the crowds did in Galilee 2000 years ago. Without Kelley on hand, other writers covered the story. Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
We're left to wonder. Does Chicago have another messiah on its hands...? Or has the required resume been watered down over the centuries....? Or is it just that nobody else sees a future in being a messiah anymore...?
TROUBLING NEWS FOR THE RICH & FAMOUS
What traditionally siphons off the envy and anger of the poor when they look upon the rich & famous is the Great American Dream. The belief in our heart of hearts that everyone has a shot.
Xavier University just gathered some troubling news for the rich & famous looking to protect their lives from the mobs. The study shows 60% of Americans say, "It's become harder to attain the American Dream than it was for our parents' generation!" The report goes on to say, "68% think it will be harder still for our children."
Does this call for better studies or higher walls...?
Is this a good or a bad thing? Should a mayor close his city's streets and open his city's coffers to someone who doesn't even reside here? Well, those morality and money questions belong to others. All I know is I've watched her show from the wings at Harpo Studios where I once worked. When she hits that stage, they respond like the crowds did in Galilee 2000 years ago. Without Kelley on hand, other writers covered the story. Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
We're left to wonder. Does Chicago have another messiah on its hands...? Or has the required resume been watered down over the centuries....? Or is it just that nobody else sees a future in being a messiah anymore...?
TROUBLING NEWS FOR THE RICH & FAMOUS
What traditionally siphons off the envy and anger of the poor when they look upon the rich & famous is the Great American Dream. The belief in our heart of hearts that everyone has a shot.
Xavier University just gathered some troubling news for the rich & famous looking to protect their lives from the mobs. The study shows 60% of Americans say, "It's become harder to attain the American Dream than it was for our parents' generation!" The report goes on to say, "68% think it will be harder still for our children."
Does this call for better studies or higher walls...?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
SORRY, FRANK, THE "SUMMER WIND" AINT ALWAYS NICE!
The stats and facts are being endlessly debated -- global warming or not? But while academicians studiously debate in labs, others furiously rage in streets. Their rage is usually described as "social unrest." Code-name in the mahogany-paneled halls of governments and corporations for: "The raggedy poor out there getting restless as they press their envious faces against our candy store windows!"
Is there some connection between global warming and global unrest...? Think about it.
Governments and corporations quite naturally believe the restless must be contained. Thrown some chocolate to sate their rage. Roman emperors did it with bread&circuses. Welfare states do it with vacations&pensions. Capitalists do it by flying the flag of the Great American Dream to which we are told everyone has a fair shot, so cool it a while longer.
Sometimes, though, the social unrest has little to do with ideology. Often it's simply what happens to us when temperatures go up. Currently they are predicted to rise worldwide between 2 and 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. As sociologist Matthew DeLisi at Iowa State puts it: "Hot weather is known to fuel hot heads. And because they are now outdoors more, there are more opportunities to engage in crimes."
According to his research, the number of violent crimes in the US between 1950 and 2008 rose with the rise in temperatures. Whoa, wait a minute...! If the power-brokers in those mahogany-paneled halls start projecting these numbers, what do they see...? "If the average temperatures in the US go up 8 degrees," DeLisi projects, "we'll see an extra 100,000 assaults and murders every year." He goes on to tell "National Geographic" it's a given that such trends can also trigger food shortages, increased poverty, mass border-crossing migrations, all having the potential for wars and even genocides.
Now you'd think here are some pretty big reasons for the big boys to take global warming more seriously. But then whoever said the big boys are that smart? Oh, right, "The Wall Street Journal" does. But then notice which side of the candy-store window its editors eat...
Is there some connection between global warming and global unrest...? Think about it.
Governments and corporations quite naturally believe the restless must be contained. Thrown some chocolate to sate their rage. Roman emperors did it with bread&circuses. Welfare states do it with vacations&pensions. Capitalists do it by flying the flag of the Great American Dream to which we are told everyone has a fair shot, so cool it a while longer.
Sometimes, though, the social unrest has little to do with ideology. Often it's simply what happens to us when temperatures go up. Currently they are predicted to rise worldwide between 2 and 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. As sociologist Matthew DeLisi at Iowa State puts it: "Hot weather is known to fuel hot heads. And because they are now outdoors more, there are more opportunities to engage in crimes."
According to his research, the number of violent crimes in the US between 1950 and 2008 rose with the rise in temperatures. Whoa, wait a minute...! If the power-brokers in those mahogany-paneled halls start projecting these numbers, what do they see...? "If the average temperatures in the US go up 8 degrees," DeLisi projects, "we'll see an extra 100,000 assaults and murders every year." He goes on to tell "National Geographic" it's a given that such trends can also trigger food shortages, increased poverty, mass border-crossing migrations, all having the potential for wars and even genocides.
Now you'd think here are some pretty big reasons for the big boys to take global warming more seriously. But then whoever said the big boys are that smart? Oh, right, "The Wall Street Journal" does. But then notice which side of the candy-store window its editors eat...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)