Keep Quiet, and They Come After You

My lament: 

In the first Godfather movie, Don Vito Corleone refuses to enter the narcotics trade, staying quiet and put.  This only invites his enemy Virgil Solozzo to attempt assassination and start a gangland war.  In the same way I wonder whether calmly going about my postal duties on the job (back in 1998) wouldn't have welcomed harassment and bullying from the folks finding themselves with some floor supervisory authority over me at the time.  I refer here to Henry Lang., Art Green's Lorraine, Menal, Jose and the two Lisas. If I were Tom Petty or Bob Dylan I might add a few pointed lyrics for their great Jammin' Me song. Glad to be finally done with the lot of these bullies: completely useless people on every level  Oh, and near the end there was also Willy, a young, ignorant hyper-macho boo-butt bent on crushing people with his alpha-male persona and cutting, combative tongue.  Bye-bye, creepos.  Nothing wrong with me being reasonable and a good worker, but sometimes a little bluntness and confrontation can work well. Later today I have scheduled an infusion chemotherapy treatment at the Cancer Pavilion...I've reacted well so far to chemo in the past.  No ninth grade nonsense and discouragement today, and I've already done about 3 minutes of home exercise. Looks like the bigshots in state and nat'l government are at it again, trying to roll back my already-confirmed citizenship and voting status.  Leave me the eff alone, fascist jerks...

Now that that's off my chest, I'd like to shift a little into gratitude mode.  Those folks were probably, in their own minds, just doing their best and maybe to them I wasn't quite measuring up to their expectations.  Today I had a chemotherapy infusion session at the UF Health Davis Pavilion.  The techs seemed at first unable to find a stick in my arm or hand to draw the needed lab blood, but later all went well.  I'm tired after a long day and would like to rest under pleasant temperatures at home in this warmer than seasonable weather.  Tomorrow's hump day Wednesday.  I've concluded already that the Smiths' How Soon is Now is my Song of the month for February and for the year 2026 as well.  It's a profound anthem on asserting myself in the face of my shyness and deep feeling of social alienation: the ultimate Goth/melancholy song!  Go Morrissey, you hit it out of the park.  As for Bad Bunny, sorry but he just comes across to me more like a gangland hoodlum street pimp than a true musical artist with that phony woke demeanor of his.  Maybe someday one of these folks will produce something musically memorable...but maybe not.  As for Super Bowl halftime shows, though, that does it for me.  A close runner-up to How Soon is Now is Zebra's chilling Who's Behind the Door, with Tom Petty's 1987 Jammin' Me Right Behind in third with its relevant, funny and pointed lyrics.  What a rocker... Running-in-place (IPF) updated counter after today: 22 minutes...

Quote of the Week...from Geladriel in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power.     ---Geladriel 

In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Geladriel...played in the film version by Cate Blanchett...is the "Lady" of the Woods, the great Elf-queen of Lothlorien.  She gives a preamble to the epic, explaining the origins of the different rings bestowed upon the various humanoid groups of Middle Earth by the scheming Sauron, deviously seeking to bind them all under his control with the Ring of Power.  As for men, the above quote explains their rings and their motivations...they themselves seek power, even if it means ultimately bowing down and surrendering all of the values they claim to hold dear.  Rings are pretty to behold...as is the notion of free and open elections in our "real" present times.  Both are attractive features of society, yet in the final analysis our politics point to Geladriel's message, which is that with politics as with most anything else, people seek power over others.  In our 2024 election cycle, all those smiling faces and resumes and family backgrounds and staunchly held "principles" are like rings masking the true aim of aspirants to political office: the attainment of a position enabling them to tell others what to do and how to live. When I see a political ad, whether on TV or social media or in my mailbox, I don't see potential public servants but rather power-grabbers. Sorry to be the one to bring you these sober tidings...no, I'm not, actually I'm quite happy to do so, thank you...

Just Finished Reading Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday

Courage is Calling, published in 2021, is the first book in Ryan Holiday's philosophy series about stoicism's Four Cardinal Virtues...click HERE to read my review of the second book about the "second" virtue of temperance: Discipline is Destiny.  His books are short and easy to read, and I tend to subscribe to his stoic belief system.  The only problem I have with his format is that he relies, in my subjective opinion, too heavily on historical examples instead of more mundane, everyday applications that I and other readers could more easily relate to.  Publicly calling out a brutal dictator in the face of death, rushing off into the heat of battle with little chance of surviving and enduring intimidation and persecution for whistle-blowing against the police or corporations are definitely acts of courage, but I'm probably not going to be engaging in any of these acts of obvious bravery.  But refusing to tow the line whenever I see corruption around me...and corruption is not a punctuated, rare phenomenon but ever-present, entrenched in fallen human nature...will never eliminate that corruption.  But recognizing its presence and adhering to my own higher principles can serve as a model to others that they, too, can rise above that base nature.  Ryan Holiday seems like a young dude, certainly not in my age group.  And as one ages, emerging serious health concerns can place a great demand for courage as they are forced to deal with them, whether it is their own or those affecting loved ones...this is an ongoing matter with me and my immediate family.  Cursing the world for being unfair and cruel with the onset of crushing events demands little courage, but getting up each day and living one's live in a state of gratitude, hope and determination is, to me, the essence of a courageous attitude and lifestyle...the author would have been better served in his book had he incorporated more of this into his numerous historical examples.  Still, I plan to finish his series, still in the progress of writing, although I believe book number three is available...

About New Year's Resolutions

Since it is the beginning of the new year, I think it's appropriate to discuss the notion of New Year's resolutions.  This is indeed a cultural phenomenon, when folks feel they can push the reset button in specific areas of their lives and "get away with it".  I say that because too many people are challenged by others when they change their habits, even for the better.  Saying that you're following a New Year's resolution you made to justify your decision to change something in your life kind of gets you off the hook socially, and others are less likely to irrationally feel threatened. But if you stick with it and persevere, then you're liable to be called out for being fanatical, extreme, or even suffering from a disorder.  So when I drove up to my local Gainesville Health and Fitness gym complex a little past nine in the evening on January 2nd, I should have known the parking lot would be crammed...I had to backtrack and park further away: no problem, extra steps for me!  But then after dressing out I walked upstairs to the row of treadmills I like to use and found that almost all of them were taken: that simply does not happen!  H-m-m, evidently there were a lot of the "resolved" that night. Funny thing, though: yesterday and today, during the same time, the number of gym-goers plummeted...no problem finding my favorite treadmill available for action!  I don't know how tenaciously people will hold to their resolutions, but I am confident that, human nature being as base as it often is, the people in their lives will, by and large, be relieved to see them settle back into their respective familiar ruts...

Just Finished Reading Scary Smart by Mo Gawdat

Scary Smart, long title Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World is a 2021 book by Mo Gawdat, a former Google X business executive at that AI-development section of Google with a background in engineering.  When I think of artificial intelligence combined with the word "scary", I recall movies like The Terminator, The Matrix and the old 1970 TV movie Colossus: The Forbin Project, all depicting a future nightmare scenario where super-intelligent computers have concluded that humanity at best is inferior and extraneous...and at worse an evil affliction on the planet that must be controlled or eradicated.  I believe that these stories greatly contribute to the public's increasing concerns about the meteoric rise of this technology in today's real world, and about what direction it will take in the near future, good or bad.  In our dog-eat-dog cutthroat competitive capitalist business environment, the clear message is that you'd better jump into AI as quickly and deeply as possible, else you will be left in the dust and perish.  Gawdat recognizes all this, and hence I felt while I was reading his book that he and I had at least a good deal of common ground in spite of our highly divergent personal and academic backgrounds.  He considers humanity's investment in artificial intelligence too far gone to reverse.  It is here to stay and, with the recent development of quantum computing, increasing its power and development more than exponentially, its intelligence will soon far, far exceed that of humans.  Gawdat believes the world will be irreversibly transformed in the next thirty years or so, so much that he posits a word picture projected ahead that far: he and the reader are out in some isolated natural scenario camping...are we rejoicing at the great new world AI has created for us or are we desperately in retreat, hiding from it?  His thesis in Scary Smart is that now is the time that people can affect the future benevolent (or malevolent) nature of artificial intelligence by instilling in it a more positive representation of what humanity is instead of the more negative, hypercompetitive, bellicose and cruel image we've engendered of ourselves over our history and how we have been using AI so far.  Gawdat is pushing a new creed of happiness, politeness, grace and generosity in dealing with artificial intelligence, which learns with every single interaction.  Even though he feels that we're destined for some future difficult times with artificial intelligence, which he likens to a sentient life force, a change in our attitudes toward ourselves where mutual happiness is the higher aim can steer it away from the nightmare science fiction scenario featured in old movies and toward the fulfillment of the many hopes for us that it brings.  I sympathize with Mo Gawdat's views but given my own experience with human nature over the course of my 67-year existence on Earth, I tend to think that his suggestions are probably just as impractical as reversing AI.  Still, I liked and recommend his book: check it out and get back to me..

Quote of the week...from Sheryl Sandberg

Done is better than perfect.    --Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg is chief operating officer at Facebook...you can react to that information in either a positive or negative way.  I have my own mixed feelings about this pervasive social media site.  It does connect people across the planet and years, reuniting many who had lost touch for decades and live far from one another...I like that.  And it gives me a link through which I can place my daily blog articles...another thumbs up.  But it also tends to bubble off people within likeminded groups, reinforcing the same biased political and social narratives while diminishing alternative views...that's a problem. And I'm not so keen on the tendency for this social media site to be focused on personal bonding and popularity over the exchange of information and truth. Having said all that, I picked the above quote of Sandberg's not for what I think of Facebook, but because it's so appropriate to just about any area of life...at least outside the operating room or nuclear facility, that is.  It's all about the tendency for some people to have difficulty starting, much less finishing, projects because they are obsessed with avoiding any mistakes in the process.  And mistakes are the catalyst in learning, very necessary for eventually attaining excellence in anything. Most folks, though, do not want to be responsible for anything that makes them vulnerable to criticism...or even worse, derision...from others.  YouTube, Yelp and Goodreads are loaded with critical comments...some of them reaching essay length...blasting the creative efforts of contributors, sometimes in very hurtful language.  I remember finding an Arkansas pastor's efforts at teaching Biblical Greek on a YouTube site.  For introducing interested people to the meanings of ancient Greek expressions and words of the New Testament, he fulfilled his purpose although he obviously didn't pronounce like a native.  For this he was rewarded with a pretty nasty comment on his site by a native Greek speaker who was offended that a nonnative would undertake this sort of effort and that his lessons were worthless. People with different agendas and narratives than me will often strictly scrutinize what I do and say and be readily available for criticism, even if it involves twisting things completely out of context or cherry-picking for items to ridicule.  That's just human nature in one of its common, crappy forms, and I'm not going to seek an impossible perfection in my daily walk just to appease massively imperfect, heavily flawed critics.  And now I'm done with this admittedly imperfect article: time to move on to the rest of my day...

Quote of the Week...from Kurt Vonnegut

People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say.           ---Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was a celebrated twentieth century American writer probably best known for his historical/science fiction novel Slaughterhouse Five from 1969.  I've read it and seen the movie...and also read his Breakfast of Champions (1973).  Currently I'm working on his 1963 book Cat's Cradle as well as his 1968 short story collection Welcome to the Monkey House.  Vonnegut had a way of mixing social commentary, satire, autobiography and science fiction together in a very readable writing style while managing to impart learning in whatever area he researched for his stories.  He also had something of a cynical take on human nature, as exhibited in the above quote from Cat's Cradle...

If you know me at all, you'll agree that I'm not very keen on talking...the less the better.  And as far as my view of others is concerned, I'm also not very keen on being talked to...with the notable worthy exceptions of my family and chosen friends.  Now I don't seem to have any problem with listening to people talk on TV or radio, and I am a big user and advocate for audio books...but when somebody walks up to me out there in the world and just starts yacking their head off at me, usually about a subject that clearly doesn't concern me in the least, I'm inclined to begin acting rudely toward them as I try to disengage myself from the unwelcome one-way conversation. I'm sure modern day marketers would object to my attitude and instead would take advantage of the opportunity to sell a house, vitamins, a politician, religion or whatever their agenda is...but that's not me.  These days I also see folks around me seemingly talking to themselves...but no, they've got some poor soul on the other end of their Bluetooth connection and seem to be in a perpetual state of conversation: what the heck is that all about?  One thing I've discovered during this era of people bubbling themselves off into feedback loop circles whereby the insiders are constantly reinforcing each others' skewed narratives about various topics...coronavirus denial comes to the fore in my mind as an example: it's natural for humans in general to follow the lead of others in their immediate social environment, even when their own individual observations and conclusions dictate a different course of action.  To "fit in" seems to require engaging in this constant chatter that I disdain so much.  How much of this qualifies as "really meaningful to say"?  Not a whole lot...if anything, Vonnegut's observation from 57 years ago is truer today than it's ever been...

Quote of the Week...from Elon Musk

It can launch things direct to Pluto and beyond. Don't even need gravity assist or anything.
                                                                     ---Elon Musk.

With the successful launch of Tuesday's Falcon Heavy rocket and the soft landing of two of its three booster rockets, SpaceX founder Elon Musk delivered the above reaction in a matter-of-fact manner, making me wonder whether his feet may be planted in 2018 but his mind is somehow off in the more distant future.  Musk picked as the rocket's payload his own private Tesla Roadster car, which will eventually settle into an orbit around the sun near Mars's orbit while playing endless loops (soundless in space) of David Bowie's space songs Space Oddity and Life on Mars.  Kind of reminds me of the dude in that Star Trek: First Contact movie who first develops and tests the warp drive...while loudly playing hard rock.  While the launch of Falcon Heavy marked a much-anticipated milestone within the space community, folks at large may at first have paid it passing attention but quickly put it far at the bottom of their collective priority list, below reality TV and Trump's tweets.  But that's people for you.  After all...

When you consider how different technological advances over the past couple of centuries have dramatically transformed the human condition, you'll notice that with each innovation it quickly gets adapted into society and is soon treated as if it had always existed, be it railroads, electric power, automobiles, airplanes, movies, radio & later television, computers, the internet, smart phones, etcetera.  And speaking of space travel, on only the third manned mission to the moon in 1970, television dropped live coverage for lack of viewer interest...that is, until Apollo 13 developed life-threatening problems creating a dramatic emergency ride back home.  During the next few years, if the launches generally go well as planned, we will witness another major change: people routinely traveling into space and to other worlds.  Initially it will be novel, but I predict (and will probably point back to this very blog article) that before hardly any time at all most people will treat it all as nothing much to get excited about.  That to me is one of the weirdest things about us humans...