Think of these “quarterly / seasonal” blog posts as kind of like a “blog within a blog.” It provides an easy-breezy format for periodically adding new material (of a miscellaneous nature). These will be subject to editing right up to when the next one begins. Don’t necessarily expect much in terms of ‘saving the planet’-type stuff, however, since I hardly ever see anything that’s anywhere near in the ballpark of where our thinking needs to be, if ‘saving the planet’ is to become a real possibility (that’s why I’m seeking funding, to change that situation).
### Raising the bar on raising boys is definitely not a bad idea. This article is limited in scope, but worth a read: ” ‘BoyMom’ Tackles Stereotypes,” Casey Schwartz, The New York Times, June 9, 2024. This piece, in the Styles section, uses Ruth Whippman’s memoir BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity as the backdrop for exploring this topic. In the Sunday Review section of this same (June 9) issue, Whippman has an opinion piece of her own (“Boyhood’s Biggest Struggle? Loneliness.”) in which she cites this statistic: “Over a quarter of men under 30 say they have no close friends.” Isn’t that fascinating, considering we live on a planet with over 8 billion people.
### And speaking of the fact that “we live on a planet with over 8 billion people,” here’s something else that surprises me. In an article appearing in yesterday’s Sunday edition of The New York Times (“In Japan, 5 Women Sue for Right to Ensure They Won’t Become Mothers,” June 23), it states that women in Japan “who seek sterilization procedures like tubal ligation or hysterectomies must meet conditions that are among the most onerous in the world. They must already have children and prove that pregnancy would endanger their health, and they are required to obtain the consent of their spouses.”
### Here’s a little factoid I ran across reading an article in the Times (though not recently). The Philippines is the only country in the world — besides Vatican City (which is officially a sovereign country) — where divorce is not legal. Can you believe it? But it’s true.
### Here’s another factoid. You’ve probably seen this in the news recently. Louisiana recently signed into law a requirement that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. Religious schools aren’t being required to display the Ten Commandments, only public schools — which is also a bit ironic. Another irony: every time I ask someone who identifies as being a Christian if they can name the first four Commandments, they often can’t name even one. They’ll say something like “Thou shalt not kill,” and I’ll say “No, that’s not one of the first four.” This is a slap in the face to anyone who is atheist, agnostic, non-religious, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, etc.
### Here’s another thing that gets my goat. I see this infrequently but sometimes it happens. A homeowner trying to do the right thing decides to replace their monoculture, high-maintenance lawn with something better for the planet. Clover, for example. Or some other native species indigenous to the area. Something that doesn’t need watering or cutting. Or they’re interested in rewilding their property. Giving it a more natural look. And what happens? They’re fined or taken to court. Here’s one such example I read about recently: “The gardener who took a Canadian city to court for the right to not mow his lawn,” Campbell MacDiarmid, June 21, 2024, TheGuardian.com.
### I’m using three number signs, instead of bullet points, to separate each section added to this page.. Bullet points have created formatting problems for me in the past. This should make it simpler.
### Don’t expect everything appearing on this page to be in chronological order. Long story short, my reading material often gets shuffled around quite a bit (like a deck of cards). What I grab to read often happens to be whatever is most accessible at that moment. I particularly love the Sunday The New York Times. I buy it every week. (Don’t get me wrong, I know they’ve dropped the ball where saving the planet is concerned. But what newspaper hasn’t?) The Book Review might be my favorite section. In the issue I’m currently making my way through (November 5, 2023), Jeff Tweedy (singer-songwriter and frontman for Wilco) was the chosen guest for their “By the Book” interview. It states Tweedy has a memoir out, titled World Within a Song. I enjoy these interviews. This one’s no exception. The first question is always “What books are on your night stand?” Tom Comitta’s The Nature Book.is one of the books he mentions in answering that question. It sounds like an unusual book. Interesting concept. Another regular question is “What was the last great book you read?” His answer: An Immense World, by Ed Yong. This also sounds like an unusual book. According to Tweedy, “It’s basically a book talking about all the different ways that animals perceive the world.” And that book has given him lots of ideas for songs. The last question — “What kind of reader were you as a kid? What childhood books and authors stick with you most?” — elicits a response that includes the World Book Encyclopedia, which I remember fondly myself. My sister won a complete set through a national coloring contest sponsored by Cappy Dick. It was wonderful having access to something like that while growing up.
### In case you missed it, now it’s Oklahoma that’s doing it. Last week, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public schools, Ryan Walters, announced at a state board meeting that every teacher will be required to have a Bible in the classroom and start teaching “from the Bible” to ensure historical understanding is there for every student. Walters stated that the Bible is “one of the most foundational documents used for the constitution and the birth of our country.” He added: “The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system.”
(See “Oklahoma state superintendent orders public schools to teach the Bible / Ryan Walters calls Bible ‘necessary document to teach kids’ and says Ten Commandments will also be required learning.” The Guardian, June 27, 2024.)
Something I’d wager they’re probably not going to teach in Oklahoma’s classrooms is that Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s 3rd president, in a letter to John Adams (our 2nd president), wrote: “And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”
Jefferson was a Deist, not a Christian. He also owned a copy of the Quran in his personal library. And several other prominent figures back at the time of our nation’s founding were also Deists — or might have been — including perhaps George Washington.
James Madison, our 4th president, said this: “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise (…) During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
John Adams, serving as our 2nd president, signed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, and that treaty states unequivocally that “the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
Ethan Allen — best known for helping capture Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary War — was also a Deist: “the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious I am no Christian.”
Thomas Paine, one of America’s founding fathers, had this to say: “Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind, and for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.”
I hope no one found any of this offensive; but since it’s often stated as fact this is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles, I thought some might find a mini history lesson enlightening.
Wanting to improve the educational system is a worthwhile goal. And much can be said about how to go about doing that. But briefly, here’s something to chew on. Someone can graduate from college in this country and not have had a single class in all of K-12 and college that was devoted to Philosophy. Does that make sense? Here’s something you might want to read which speaks to that (“Into the garden of good and evil, Oct. 13, 1999, The Guardian). I reference this on my Solutions page (this interview with philosopher Jonathan Glover also appeared in a weekly publication put out by The Guardian, but with an alternative title).
### (Thursday, July 4, 2024) This is a funny coincidence. I happened to reference a Thomas Jefferson letter (above) and a couple or so days later I now see there’s an article in The Guardian titled “A newly discovered letter by Thomas Jefferson shows ‘a regular guy with financial burdens.’ ” I wonder where that letter’s been hidden all these years? It looks like it’s for sale for $40,000. The article contains a link to a site which says “Purchase $40,000.” I’m surprised it’s not being sold at auction.
Anyhow, the way in which that was brought to my attention is I happened to notice at the bottom of The Guardian’s home page it looks like it has something new . I think it usually has the top ten most viewed pieces — I’m not sure, I never paid much attention to it before. But now there are two lists in that bottom “Most popular” section: a top ten “Most viewed / What readers are clicking on”) list on the left, and a top ten “Deeply read / What readers are spending time with (Learn more)” list on the right. This is a smart new feature, and interestingly, there are no duplicates! That is, nothing that appears on that “Most viewed list,” also appears on the “Deeply read” list.
Over the past few days and past few weeks there have been numerous articles I’ve been wanting to mention in this “blog within a blog” quarterly feature I’ve created. But I just haven’t had the time. Still, it might be worth noting that the only piece currently appearing on these two “top ten” lists, which I had been wanting to mention here, is the one titled “Greece introduces ‘growth-oriented’ six-day working week.” That one was published July 1st.
### This might be one of the strangest covers of Science News I’ve ever seen. It’s the current issue. “Does Social Status Shape Height?” is the cover story. I have to squint to read the subtitle. I hate when publications do this. It’s small white lettering against a yellow background: Anyhow, “Growing tall may depend on more than just genetics and nutrition” is the subheading. This leaves me scratching my head. I can’t wait to take a peek. But it’s low on my priorities list. So it could be weeks before I get to it. By the way, I’m tall and my siblings are tall. I always ascribed it to the fact we had so much milk growing up. But I’m sure genetics also plays a role. And bioavailability of other nutrients also plays a role.
### “No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving.” Ugh! Evidently that is what Biden was heard saying while on a call with campaign staff. I guess he’s the only one who didn’t get the memo. Voters will likely be pushing him out, and then he will be leaving. This isn’t pretty, but it’s pretty awful, this situation we’re in. I’m not sure if there are authors out there who can make stuff like this up. Are there?
One remedy to this nightmare that’s unfolding is this: it is time for Biden’s aides to start quitting — stepping down, “effective immediately” — one by one; including his top aides. Only then might he get the message that he needs to release his delegates. He needs to set them free and let them vote for whomever they think can win in November. What’s the use in staying, anyway, if he’s likely to lose? And lose he might. I’ve yet to meet a single person in the past five years who is enthusiastic and excited about Biden. Not one! And yet look at all the people who love and adore Trump. If you can’t read the writing on the wall, you’re blind. Biden and Harris, both individually or collectively, are weak, weak, weak!
Here’s another possible way out of this mess: if hundreds of thousands of people show up to peacefully demonstrate in Chicago, Illinois, at the site where the Democratic convention is set to begin on August 19th, maybe then the message will get through that the only way to beat Trump is to (a) have an open convention, and (b) choose candidates that will energize the base in a big way. Demonstrators can kill two birds with one stone: they can voice the need for an open convention; while also carrying placards reflecting who they think would be the best candidate(s) to nominate for the ticket. By doing that not only could they help get Biden off the ticket, they can effectively serve as something of a massive focus group sharing who they think can win. But time is running out. (Note: there are probably laws pertaining to where demonstrators are allowed to be and where they are not allowed to be, and it’s possible a permit may be required for something large, but I’m not too knowledgeable about stuff like that.)
### (Wednesday, July 10, 2024) It’s hot and sticky and thoroughly yucky. No air conditioning in the room I rent — the window’s too narrow to fit one. And I have no car air conditioning either. I’m not paying $600 for a new compressor. So it’s a perfect storm. Or should I say a perfect heat wave. But I do have a couple days off. So now might be a good time to add some things here. I’ll try to move along at a swift pace, since so many things have piled up.
I think one major Achilles’ heel of The New York Times is their op-ed columnists. If you care about saving the planet and you own the Times, these are not the people you should be hiring to help humanity succeed in that goal. But it is what it is. David Brooks is a perfect example. I see him as generally useless in terms of saving the planet. Anyhow, that said, I do recommend reading his recent interview with Steve Bannon from this past Sunday’s Times (“How Steve Bannon Sees the Future, July 7, 2023). However, Brooks’ question “Well, how about you have a conversation with the Biden administration? (…)” was quite surreal. Biden won’t even listen to his fellow Democrats as they beg and plead for him to release his delegates! But he might listen to Steve Bannon?
I wanted to keep this short so I’ll just say this: read the interview. It’s a revealing glimpse into one thing they (the right and people like Bannon) have going for them. They think big. Brooks doesn’t think big. The Times doesn’t think big. They’re basically centrists, no? And Biden and Harris don’t think big. But Trump and his followers think big (e.g., reversing Roe v. Wade). What’s also revealing is that Bannon (who previously served as chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign and later served as the Trump administration’s chief strategist), in answer to the question “What do you think a second Trump administration would look like?,” answers “Project 25 and others are working on it.” This is worth noting because it’s been reported recently in the news that Trump was asked about Project 25 and claimed he knew nothing about it. Obviously, he was lying. But this reminds me, The Guardian online published a piece about Project 25 that I’ve yet to get to: “The force behind Project 2025: Kevin Roberts has the roadmap for a second term / The ‘cowboy Catholic’ head of the Heritage Foundation is on a mission to align the right behind Trumpism, and has a plan in place to overturn the American government as it exists if Trump returns to power” (July 1).
Thinking big is one thing I have in common with Bannon. But not the only thing. I do think we need to curtail spending. And we need to get a handle on the situation with the borders. (Republicans never seem to mention it, but our northern border with Canada also provides a convenient means for slipping into this country illegally.) I’ve never listened to Bannon’s podcast — and have no desire to do so — but the fact it’s named “War Room” says something to the fact he thinks big. And indeed, while I haven’t ever mentioned it, having something of a “Command Center” is something I’ve long sought to achieve myself. (Though obviously, the focus and goals would be quite different than what Bannon is trying to achieve.) I’ve never talked about this, for at least two reasons. First, as the saying goes, “you have to walk before you can run.” Getting that relatively small amount of initial funding, that is the first step. Then I can begin getting my ideas out there and building an audience. Second, it’s not even clear in my mind what this “command center” would actually look like, or how exactly it would function. I just see it as one possible way of helping to bring focus to a movement that is wholly lacking focus.
### Here’s something else in the pile of stuff I put aside to possibly include here. I briefly glanced over an article in The Guardian titled “Scientists find desert moss ‘that can survive on Mars’ ” (June 30). This article relates to Mars, not Earth’s moon, but I jotted down on notepaper “How might creating some sort of Earth-like atmosphere on the moon negatively impact the Earth?” What would we even call that new type of pollution (threat to Earth’s biosphere)? Anyhow, if anything, that’s a long way off. But maybe not.
### Here’s more bad news. In fact, maybe that might make a fitting name for a newspaper: The Daily Bad News. Anyhow, this was a cover story featured on page 1 of The New York Times (“Justices’ Rulings Sharply Curtail E.P.A. Authority,” June 30). Not only did the court reverse the so-called “Chevron doctrine” — “a cornerstone of administrative law for 40 years” — but also, as the article points out, perhaps even “more remarkable have been several decisions by the court to intervene to stop environmental regulations before [my italics] they were decided by lower courts or even before [my italics] they were implemented by the executive branch.” Translation: they are completely out of control and this does not portend well for the planet. As a sidebar concerning the Supreme Court, it’s also worth noting that regarding their recent landmark ruling, granting presidents (Trump) immunity from criminal prosecution for exercising core constitutional powers or for other official acts, that case would have ended in a 3:3 tie, had those three judges Trump appointed recused themselves.
### I saw this headline in The Guardian (” ‘Surely we are smarter than mowing down 1,000-year-old trees to make T-shirts’ — the complex rise of viscose,” July 1); but I was afraid to look. Are we really still chain-sawing 1,000-year-old trees? I think I know the answer. But I’m afraid to look. Anyhow, this is a perfect example of the fact that ever since I put this website up (it’s been over a decade now), I don’t think a week has ever gone by in which I haven’t seen in the news additional things I could add to the Nowhere On Our Radar, Problems or Philanthropy pages of my website. This is just one example.
### Now, on a lighter side, I’ll mention an opinion piece from the Times by Maureen Dowd (“The Truth Hurts, Especially if Bill Maher Dishes It,” May 19, 2024). It’s a fun piece about Bill Maher the comedian. Which now makes me think of a joke: how come no comedian ever started a joke with “So, two comedians walk into a bar.” I guess it wouldn’t be funny. But isn’t that ironic. Anyhow, I’ll share this gem. Dowd writes that Maher’s liberal friends in Hollywood “pester him to shut up about President Biden’s age and gait.” Then Dowd adds (and this sentence is in parenthesis): “Maher kids that Biden should lean into it and say, ‘I walk like a toddler with a full diaper, but I believe in democracy.’ ” I read this weeks ago. It’s still funny. But now less so. Given the seriousness concerning what’s at stake if Biden maintains his death grip hold on his delegates and refuses to bow out of the
### This was an interesting article. Imagine introducing the internet to tribes living deep within the Amazon rain forest. “The Internet’s Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes of Brazil,” June 2, The New York Times.
### I love reading. I love sharing my love of reading. And I love sharing things I’ve learned from reading. Here’s an interesting quotation I came across while reading a book review in the Times (“Player One, June 2). Dwight Garner is reviewing Glenn Loury’s Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. The quotation is from Orwell: “A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.” I’m not sure I would agree with that sentiment, but it’s certainly an interesting quotation. And it reminds me, something I jotted down that I would like to do is find a good reading of Orwell’s Animal Farm on YouTube. A few popped up. But I haven’t yet had a chance to try listening to any of them. With the Russian-Ukraine war being in the news so regularly, I thought it might be interesting to give this novel another “read.”
### (Thursday, July 11, 2024) Being an avid reader I never cease seeing things that interest me, in one way or another. I don’t really have time for books. But I read every day! Articles, news, opinion pieces, book reviews, and so forth. This you might find interesting. I remember seeing a quotation once from the author and teacher Frank McCourt. He wrote “Before you read a Faulkner sentence, wave goodbye to your family.” One sentence Faulkner wrote, a 1,288-word run-on sentence which William Faulkner included in one of his novels, got him into the Guinness Book of World Records. But that was child’s play. Lucy Ellmann’s book Ducks, Newburyport — 1,030 pages long — is written entirely as one sentence. And apparently it makes for a good audiobook. In the June 16, issue of The New York Times Book Review, Alexander Nazaryan, who writes about politics, culture and science for the Times, put together a list of some of his favorite “supersized listens.” In this piece titled “Long-Haul Listening,” he breaks these down into four sections starting with those listed as “50+ Hours,” and works his way down to a “20+ Hours” list. Unsurprisingly, Tolstoy’s War and Peace is listed in the “50+ Hours” grouping. In the “40+ Hours” category he has Ducks, Newburyport.
### (Friday, July 12, 2024) You’ve probably read how with hunter-gatherers during Paleolithic and Mesolithic times and even with the early American Indians and such, when they killed an animal for food, they tried to make use of as much of the animal as possible, so that none of it would go to waste. The fur, bones, teeth, whatever, might be useful in some way. For crafts, jewelry, tools, weapons, costumes, for warmth, whatever. That’s kind of like how I am with my Sunday New York Times. I don’t like to see any part of it go to waste. Even something like The New York Times Style Magazine (simply known as “T“) I can’t simply toss into the recycling pile without first peeking inside. Usually, most of it is of no interest to me. But once in a while I see something interesting. For example, once I came across an image of a building that was a truly amazing piece of architectural design. It was very ambitious, with a lot going on all at once. I enjoyed just looking at it. More recently, while going through the September 20, 2020 issue, I came across an article about artist Tehching Hsieh (“When the Only Thing Left Is Time,” Andrew Russeth). I didn’t read all of it, but it begins by stating that on the last day of September in 1978, Hsieh “began one of the century’s most harrowing art pieces.” After constructing a roughly 10-by-10-by-10-foot wooden cage inside of his Manhattan studio, he locked himself inside, and stayed there for one full year. A friend brought food and disposed of his waste. The plan was that for one year “he would do pretty much nothing: not read, write, talk or otherwise engage himself in any activities.” According to Russeth, about six months after this “durational performance” or “endurance art” concluded, “he began the second of what would be five such works, each titled “One Year Performance.” One entailed punching a clock every hour. That one required “confining himself within a roughly one-mile radius of his home so that he could make it back in time” to punch the clock. It also meant he “had to give up deep sleep,” since he had to wake up every hour to punch the clock. The article includes a picture of the aforementioned cage he lived in for one solid year. It looks just like a jail cell. To be honest, I’m not too interested in a story like this. Maybe that’s why I didn’t read all of it. But it stimulates thinking. For example, why would someone do that? What’s the purpose? What might his message (or goal) be (if there is one)? Etc. You can even turn this into a game. Who can come up with the most (nonredundant) questions pertaining to this.
### You’ve probably seen this in the news. China appears poised to start including robotic dogs with mounted machine guns as part of it’s armed forces within just a couple years or so. Imagine if Russia had them now. Or Ukraine. It’s crazy the senseless killing going on in the world. And the constant competition to see who’s best at it.
### And here’s something you might find infinitely more scary than robotic dogs with mounted machine guns. I saw this article in The Guardian online the other day: “Meet Tim Dunn: The ultraconservative billionaire pastor spending millions to protect his oil — and elect Trump” (July 11). Dunn has poured nearly $30m into his effort to drive the Texas state legislature to the far right, has donated $5 million to help Trump get re-elected, and has also poured money into far right thinktanks. Fellow oil billionaire and evangelical Farris Wilks is described as “a frequent collaborator.”
One book that’s mentioned in the article is Darren Dochuk’s Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America. One of the Amazon-posted reviews (by “Joan N.”) gives the book four stars and shares interesting information about the book. She writes in her review that the book helped her “understand the influential role oil barons played in the evangelical movement,” and made her aware of the belief “that oil was a natural resource God had given to America.”
This article is just one in a series The Guardian is publishing to “profile figures playing a key role in boosting” Trump’s chances of being re-elected. Other articles in this series include:
(1) Steve Bannon: his War Room podcast is shaping the Republican narrative.
(2) Charlie Kirk: Republicans are turning on the former youth guru
(3) Kevin Roberts: the force behind Project 2025.
(4) Cleta Mitchell: the ex-Democratic firebrand turned election denier.
(5) Hans von Spakovsky: the man who cries voter fraud.
### One thing I’ll point out, in light of what’s mentioned above, is in order for ‘saving the planet’ to become something achievable, major funding is required. Don’t think the other side can spend billions to get their message out, while all we have to do is come waltzing down the street with a nickel in our pocket and that’s enough to take them on. It’s not. So if you’re a billionaire, or even just someone up there in that 1% class, and want to help save the planet, you know where to reach me.
### (Sunday, July 21, 2024) Relating to my comment above, Elon Musk has recently promised to contribute about $45 million a month to the effort to get Trump re-elected. Again, that’s money that (theoretically) could have gone to saving the planet (if Musk actually cared about that). But that money will be aimed in a direction in direct opposition to that. Remember Scott Pruitt? And the soundproof booth he had built inside his EPA office to prevent anyone from hearing his phone calls? Trump’s claim that climate change was a “hoax” invented by China? Or the nonsense about “clean coal?” Or that “drill, baby, drill” slogan his supporters love? Etc.
Update: Despite The Wall Street Journal reporting on July 16th that “according to people familiar with the matter,” Musk was planning to give about $45 million to a new PAC he was forming called “America Pac,” Musk now denies it. This comes after Biden dropped out (throwing his support behind Kamala Harris). Musk didn’t elaborate regarding how much funding he is planning to commit to America Pac.
### This is something I’m surprised I haven’t seen in the news. Wouldn’t it make sense for Thomas Matthew Crooks’ brain to be handed over to scientists to study? Presidential assassination attempts are quite rare. And so far determining the motive has been elusive. This might shed light. And also help prevent future such assassination attempts. As a side note, I remember when President Reagan was shot, just seven days prior to that, the cover of Newsweek — a popular magazine that surely would have been visible at newsstands — featured a large image of a loaded gun pointed straight ahead (underneath the headline “The Epidemic of Violent Crime”). Could something like that have acted as a subliminal trigger (pardon the pun), or been perceived by someone with a mentally illness as a “sign” of some sort? It’s possible. But getting back to the brain, I’ll also mention this. As reported in The New York Times last month — “Pattern of Brain Damage Is Pervasive in Navy SEALs Who Died by Suicide (June 30) — by studying the brains of Navy SEALs who committed suicide, scientists were able to pinpoint the likely cause for why there is such a high number of suicides among navy SEALs.
### Something I’m seeing more and more coverage of in the press is the topic of doctor assisted suicide (and related topics). For example, a week ago in The New York Times there was an article about a retired doctor who helped a woman end her life (“He Helped a Woman End Her Own Life, Was It Manslaughter, or Mercy?”). And a few days ago I read that in Switzerland there’s a plan to test out a “suicide pod” that releases nitrogen (at a cost of about $20), as a method to end one’s life. **SPOILER ALERT** Reading about this “suicide pod” brought to mind a memorable scene from that futuristic thriller Soylent Green (1973). Obviously, certain safeguards should be in place so it’s not abused, but it seems ridiculous to me that we still as yet have not advanced to the point where people have the option to end their life with dignity rather than be forced to live with pain and suffering.
### Have you eaten an avocado lately? And what’s an anti-avocado militia? If you don’t know what an avocado militia is you probably haven’t seen this article: “Inside Mexico’s anti-avocado militias,” June 11, 2024, The Guardian online. The subheading reads: “The spread of the avocado is a story of greed, ambition, corruption, water shortages, cartel battles and, in a number of towns and villages, a fierce fightback.” But this could also have included “deforestation,” “earthquakes” and even “weather disruption,” since: land is being constantly cleared to meet increased demand (e.g., “in the US, avocado consumption has roughly doubled, while domestic production … has begun to collapse”); the destruction of the pine forests has shrunk the rainy season “from around six months to three”; and aquifer depletion has been so profound “that small earthquakes have newly become commonplace.” So great is the demand for water — “it takes about 12 times as much water to grow an avocado as it does a tomato” — that according to experts, the second largest lake in all of Mexico, “could disappear within a decade.” Since chainsaws aren’t the only means of clearing land for growing avocados, wildfires are also a concern. The article also talks about all the senseless killing and the horrific toll this violence is taking. For example, one woman fighting tears describes witnessing a terrified school boy being shot, “his body flying through the air ‘like a kite.’ ”
### I’ve finally gotten around to renewing my London Review ad. I’ve changed the wording to this: “Let’s make this the year we take BIG steps towards saving the planet!” But truthfully, I don’t think there’s much hope unless I get the funding to start getting my ideas out there. Even then, saving the planet won’t be easy. But at least I’ll then be in a position to describe what needs to be done. In detail. With specificity. And keep hammering home key points.
### (Tuesday, July 23, 2024) This is something I happened to spot in Chess Life. (Since I paid double the membership fee for 10 consecutive years — long ago — I get the magazine free every month.) In the April 2024 issue there’s an interview with GM Maurice Ashley — I’m guessing Ashley is one of the top 200 players in the US. He’s featured on the cover; and there’s an excerpt from his book Move by Move (2024) included with the interview. Here’s the part I’d like to share. I love this! He mentions that he thought up this puzzle: with the black king in the center, using the point system (e.g., rooks are 5 points) what would be the lowest number of points required to place the black king in checkmate?
It’s an interesting puzzle. It sounds much simpler to solve than it actually is. Ashley thought the answer was seven. But while talking to some amateur players in Barcelona, he brought this up, and a woman named Anna Khudayarova — a graphic designer, described as being close to a “beginner” — said: “Can’t you do it with all pawns?”
“Oh %*#$. Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. She didn’t even know how to do it, but her thinking was correct. In fact, the answer turns out to be five, not seven.
We were all stunned,” Ashley states, “by the fact that this beginner, with her curiosity, said, ‘Can’t you just …’ And that’s what beginners do. They ask naive questions, but there’s gold in there.” This was the point he was making. There’s a chapter in his book along those lines. But I just love the irony of the beginner besting the Grandmaster.
### On the last day of 2023, in The New York Times Book Review, there appeared an essay pertaining to Ernest Becker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Denial of Death (“You’re Going to Die / Fifty years on, ‘Denial of Death,’ by Ernest Becker, remains a surprisingly upbeat guide to our final act,’ Alexander Nazaryan). I recommended this to my mom, and she found it so interesting she tried to check the book out at her local library, but had to wait months because there was a waitlist.
Nazaryan states that Becker believed “we create elaborate distraction in the form of … ‘causa-sui — or self-caused — ‘projects’ (also known as ‘immortality projects’) that convince us we have the means to leave a lasting mark on the world. Yes, I know I’m just an oxygenated carbon sack clinging to a rock hurtling through the unfeeling infinity of dark matter, but did you hear that my kid got into Princeton?”
Becker argued, according to Nazaryan, that only by confronting our mortality can we live more fully and “see more clearly what matters and what does not — and how important it is to grasp the difference. Contemplating death is like a cold plunge for the soul, a prick to the amygdala. You emerge renewed, your vision clarified.”
Elsewhere in this essay, Nazaryan writes that in another of his books (The Birth and Death of Meaning), Becker introduces a concept he terms “heroism,” and describes this as “a contradictory notion,” both pointless, and yet “central to human society.”
This essay was one of the things that inspired me to set aside this space on my website for sharing thoughts and for passing along some of the interesting things I come across while reading.
### (Thursday, July 25, 2024) Be careful what you wish for. Biden has dropped out. But rather than an open convention, it looks like Kamala Harris will get the nomination uncontested. Oh, well. She looks quite weak as a candidate. But here’s a song I’ll recommend for her campaign: Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman.” Hopefully on Election Day there’ll be good reason for also playing The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
Just for the record, I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. And I don’t support any of the existing political parties. But I always do seem to prefer Democrats over Republicans.
### (Friday, July 26, 2024) You’ve probably heard in the news that Elon Musk said he’s moving X (Twitter) and SpaceX out of California because of their passage of a bill that prohibits schools from notifying parents when their child identifies as transgender. Whether that’s the real reason behind his moving those two companies out of California or not, here’s an interesting article that was published by NBC News online just yesterday: “Elon Musk’s transgender daughter, in first interview says he berated her for being queer as a child.”
Musk’s son-turned-daughter changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, and hasn’t spoken to her father in four years. She describes him as “cold,” “quick to anger,” “uncaring” and “narcissistic.” Gee, maybe it is a good idea to prohibit schools from outing children to their parents. I can imagine scenarios where the child’s life could be in danger if their school did that.
Wilson, who legally changed her name to distance herself from Musk, states in this article, “I think he was under the assumption that I wasn’t going to say anything and I would just let this go unchallenged. Which I’m not going to do, because if you’re going to lie about me, like, blatantly to an audience of millions, I’m not just gonna let that slide.” This is in reference to Musk’s appearance with Jordan Peterson. In the interview, Musk said his son is “dead,” killed by “the woke-mind virus.” Maybe Musk has become victim to the closed-mind virus?
“He was not tricked,” Wilson states, contradicting Musk’s claim that he was “tricked” into signing the parental form that allowed his child to receive trans-related medical treatment.
I find it simply amazing that so many people can’t comprehend that transgender people exist. Many of these same people have no trouble believing in things like immaculate conception, god, resurrection, conspiracy theories, space aliens visiting Earth, etc., but they don’t believe in the existence of transgender people? Are they not aware there’s such a thing as hermaphrodites as well?
### (Friday, August 2, 2024) About a week ago, I finally got around to renewing my ad in The London Review of Books. But I’ve changed the wording. If memory serves me correctly I went with this: “Let this be the year we start making BIG changes towards saving the planet.” (And my website.)
### My ad also appears in The New York Review of Books (but with a different wording). Last night, though, I happened to notice my ad was listed under the heading Marketplace (rather than Miscellaneous). This is for the August issue. I was told it will be corrected in the online placement, but if you happen to see my ad in the print version (that issue has a long 5-week shelf life), please don’t be confused.
This allows me to bring up an interesting point. In those instances where magazines do have a Classifieds section, there often isn’t a specific category for which my ad would make sense. So I’m just grateful the Review has a Miscellaneous section.
Mistakes happen. C’est la vie. Once, Mother Earth News (which no longer has a Classifieds section) listed my ad under Sawmills. Just imagine my shock and surprise when I discovered that!
In at least one publication, I was able to create a separate category (Save the Planet), just for my ad.
All this reminds me of a very interesting article I read in The New York Times about a decade ago — “The Wolf Hunters of Wall Street,” (March 1, 2014). It’s a bit complicated to summarize — so please forgive me. But at one point, Brad Katsuyama says — regarding the application process for The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards — “It was stupid, there wasn’t even a category to put us into. I think we ended up applying under Other.” When I read “there wasn’t even a category to put us into,” that made me think of my situation. What I’m doing is so unique that when considering where to advertise, I sometimes can’t find a category to fit my ad into.
That article also provides a wonderful example of thinking big — in the words of Katsuyama: “Let’s just create our own stock exchange.” And that’s what they did. But big ideas like that require funding. And that’s another thing that reminded me of my situation: lots and lots of big ideas, crying out for funding; but no funding.
Another thing I’ll bring up is this. Just as that Technology Innovation Awards application didn’t have a specific category for what they were doing, and just as Classifieds sections often lack a specific category for an ad like mine, so too I run up against this same sort of problem regarding how to describe what I aim to do. “Saving the planet” sounds trite, because it’s overused. “Gee, aren’t lots of people doing that?” No, actually I don’t see anyone doing anything like what I have in mind. But how do I summarize it? It’s about much more than having the right ideas, and the right strategies, and so forth. It’s much, much deeper and harder to put into words than just that. And part of what makes it so difficult is the fact that we are so far off course from where we need to be that it’s actually frightening.
But here’s one way to sum it up: with sufficient funding, my ideas and strategies (if enacted upon and done the right way) can function as something like a 5-star general, in the battle to save the planet. That said, I’ll also point out that while our prospects for saving the planet look bleak, even a relatively small amount of funding, potentially, could be enough to get things moving solidly in the right direction. That’s how good I think my ideas are! But time isn’t on our side. And things are only getting much worse — mounting debt, denialism, militarism, materialism, technology addiction, close-mindedness, tribalism, planetary warming, population pressure, deforestation, feedback effects, tipping points, et. cetera. and so forth.
### (Friday, August 9, 2024) I picked up a copy of The New York Times in the store I was in the other day. It was the last copy! What’s the deal with that? Maybe people are now more interested in the election coverage stories. What caught my attention (but of course this is nothing new): “Great Barrier Reef Ebbs Away / This generation will probably see the demise of the largest coral reef system in the world unless humanity acts with far more urgency to rein in climate change, new research suggests. Page A7.”
One of the gravest mistakes me continue to make over and over again is in compartmentalizing the problems. We fail to see the big picture. How everything is interconnected. And how that’s a never-talked-about part of the problem.
It’ll probably be weeks before I have a chance to even look at this issue of the Times. I have about a hundred pages of notes to put away. Fun, fun, fun. Well, not quite. And that’s only one of the many things I have to do. Ugh!
### (Saturday, August 10, 2024) “Huh?” That was my immediate reaction a few days ago upon learning that it was JFK jr. who dumped a dead bear cub into New York City’s Central Park a little over ten years ago. Mystery solved.
I read this article a few days ago. It’s a fun read. What started this family feud was Musk’s appearance on a Jordan Peterson podcast in which Musk said that his trans child was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus.”
Now here’s a thought. I’m curious. What if Musk had a son who dropped everything and enrolled at a seminary with the intention of becoming a priest? Would Musk say “my son is dead, killed by the Christianity mind virus?” I’m just asking.
(This reminds me of a funny unattributed quotation which also appears on my Quotations page: “Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.”)
Worth pointing out too is the fact that the same person (Musk) who’s complaining about a “woke mind virus,” also happens to be quite clueless concerning what it would take to save the planet. For example, Musk thinks “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.” That’s a tweet from 2022. Here’s another: “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.” (The article mentions that Vivian Jenna Wilson doesn’t think her father is ‘saving the planet’ and quotes her as stating she believes he doesn’t even “give a f*** about climate change.”)
I suppose that wouldn’t be so strange, if he was on drugs. Oh, wait, that’s right, he is on drugs. Musk has admitted to using LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogenic mushrooms and ketamine. Have I left any out?
Well, that might explain then why he may not realize human population hasn’t gone down, it’s gone up — at least ever since the 1300s, when the Black Death ended.
Ironically, many people today are quite unaware of how serious an issue overpopulation is. Just the other day, I briefly engaged someone in conversation, and asked: “How long do you think it takes to add one million people to the total world population?” I repeated “million” several times, just to ensure they didn’t think I was saying “billion.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said.
“Just guess,” I said, “[pretend] you’re on a game show.”
“Ten years?” That was his guess.
“About four days,” I said.
He looked surprised.
And by the way, Musk’s father, Errol Musk — who fathered a child with one of his own stepdaughters — has stated that he believes: “The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.” Those are his words. However, if you think about it, Errol has to be doing more with his time than just that, or else he’d have more than five children.
Okay, let’s sum it up, shall we? Saying underpopulation represents the greatest danger humanity faces is just plain crazy. It’s like trying to argue there aren’t enough private jets and billionaires in the world — “why, if this situation continues, civilization will collapse.” Oh, please!
### (Saturday, August 17, 2024) Here’s something I read recently: ” ‘The interview’: Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely,” NYT Magazine (July 21, 2024). There’s a longer version of this online — or you can catapult the paywall and listen to it on YouTube:
‘The interview: Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely
Putnam wrote the nonfiction bestseller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000). His most recent book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again (2020) — which he co-wrote with Shaylyn Romney Garrett — adds more depth, and factors in additional variables.
In his answer to one of the questions, Putnam explains the difference between two types of social capital. He describes “bonding social capital” as “ties that link you to people like yourself”; whereas “bridging social capital” pertains to “ties to people unlike yourself.”
This is one of the questions the interviewer — Lulu Garcia-Navarro — asks Putnam: Are we politically polarized because we are less connected, or are we less connected because we are politically polarized? That’s a thought-provoking question. It might even make an interesting quotation to frame and hang in one’s home as something of a conversation piece.
This being an election year — with Election Day not too far away — it’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that a certain related subject does come up. But I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own.
Mentioned in the introductory part is the fact that Putnam is the subject of a new documentary, Join or Die — produced and directed by the brother and sister duo of Rebecca and Pete Davis. Here’s a link for where it is being shown:
JoinOrDieFilm.com (click on “Watch”)
### (Tuesday, August 20, 2024) “Jared Kushner wants to turn a wild stretch of Albania into a luxury resort,” August 17, 2024, The Washington Post. This is so absolutely disgusting, on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin. So I’ll have to leave it at that. But I will add this: take a look at that “For want of a nail” proverb I quote on my website (and how it relates to saving the planet). For without funding, my hands are indeed tied, and I have no choice but to watch, helplessly, as I read, again and again, more and more articles like this one. It’s like being forced to watch some horrifyingly gruesome version of Groundhog Day, except in this version, it never ends, it only gets worse and worse.
Reaching out a helping hand, to enable someone like me — someone with brilliant ideas, big ideas, great ideas — to start getting those ideas out there into the public domain where they can make a real difference, that should be a no-brainer, don’t you think?
### (Wednesday, August 28, 2024) This was an interesting article about Alex Karp, the billionaire head of Palantir Technologies: “To Save Your Country, Scare the Enemy,” Aug. 18, 2024, New York Times. (One of my pet peeves with online vs paper editions of articles is how often they have different titles. The online version, as you can see, uses a different title than was used in the newspaper.)
One thing in particular, I found quite annoying. Maureen Dowd writes: “As with many topics that came up in the course of our interviews in Washington, Palo Alto and New Hampshire, Mr. Karp zips his lips about whether Palantir was involved in dispatching the fiend of 9/11.” Truthfully, I couldn’t care less whether or not Palantir had a hand in helping locate Osama bin Laden. What does bother me, though, is how frequently I see sentences like this one casually referencing air travel in an age where we’re on the precipice of cataclysmic climate change. Couldn’t Dowd — a Times op-ed columnist — have conducted her interviews with Karp over a landline or through video conferencing? Hello?