House of the Future

Barnburner

In the middle of a field
A barn stood, scorched by flame.
In blackened grass I kneeled
And touched its blackened frame.

A purposed hand, a match strike,
And raw spark set to hay:
In wine dark air the blaze spikes.
Night masquerades as day.

But now there's only ember,
With time becoming ash.
June becomes December.
All treasures must to trash.

You ask me why this barn burned.
You need not ask me twice.
My fondness for its shape turned
When in it I found mice.

************
For Obie . . .

Bonkers

I love California. I still believe in the dream. But shit like this boggles my mind.

I can only consider this a boondoggle for people in Leland Yee's district, many of whom might be just the experts "to help people live in harmony with nature by promoting the flow of chi, or positive energy, and neutralizing or avoiding negative energy."

What crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!

Mel Gibson, Holocaust Minimizer

Conspirator David Bernstein provides an analysis of Mel Gibson's statements to Peggy Noon regarding the murder of tens of millions of Jews by the Nazis during their Third Reich.

The apple, as they say, falls not far from the tree.

I simply do not know what to make of this man. He's played Mad Max in three films, a conspiracy theorist in another, a host of an alien visitation, and a deformed mentor to a young boy in a film based on a book with more than implicit references to a sexual relationship between the two. Now he's intent on causing a third great awakening by way of his new gospel. I guess I would take him more seriously if he were more consistent in his kookiness.

Cal State Hayward Prof Declares Computers Evil

This article was written by one Theodore Roszak, and it is one of the most dismal pieces of garbage I have come across in quite a while.

Roszak, a self-described neo-luddite, fears that his computer gets up in the middle of the night and unscrews the lid on his salt shaker and writes bad checks at the supermarket. Hello?! Professor Roszak? It's a machine. Do you feel as well that your blender is taking over your life? That the world wide weed whackers are wielding dangerous control over the UN? That the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a root cause in a malevolent clock radio somewhere in Haifa?

He frets that we are giving too much power to computers and networks, which provide only information, "(m)inor, sometimes useful pieces of mental furniture", as he calls it, "beyond which lie the higher, never-to-be-computerized powers of the mind: imagination, revelation, insight, intuition, wisdom . . ." If imagination and revelation were the only method of acquiring knowledge available to humans, we would still be struggling for survival, beating each other over the head with femurs from the animals that were sickly enough to allow us to catch them.

Roszak recoils in horror from Microsoft's proposed "E-House" system. He feels that we sacrifice our humanity in relying on computers to do things like turn on and off our lights and our sprinkler systems and our heating and air-conditioning. Never mind the fact that the convenience that such control will bring will make us all safer, more comfortable, and able to spend more quality time either at work or at play. Roszak sees only disjunct, only abdication of our moral responsibilities in the increasing efficiency that computers provide. If he had his way, we'd still be dependent on cast-iron stoves and oil-lamps, and would doubtlessly complain about them for distancing us from the 'realness' of a naked fire in the middle of sod-roof lean-to.

Roszak, in demonizing the computer, misses the point; that is, that the computer itself is a celebration of the human mind. This machine that he so dreads is as much a part of organic nature as a bird's nest or a beaver's dam. He does no service to man's abilities, man's native talents. All that he can see is someone making a buck off hard work and the germ of invention, while he slaves away at some third-rate public university (deep in the shadows of Berkeley, no less), churning out ill-informed, malevolent prose for a steadily decreasing audience of 60s radicals and their progeny. Get thee to the Timothy Leary Home for the Aged, Professor Roszak. The House of the Future belongs to us, not to people like you.

Search and Ye Shall Find

Someone happened upon my site with the following search parameters: shiny pantyhose porn.

Whatever. Far be it from me . . .

Oy Vey

Now he'll really be unbearable.

Mustard Vinaigrette

Here's my recipe:

4 oz. olive oil
1 oz. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste.

And nevermore store-bought dressings. Keeps for about five days in the fridge, maybe longer.

Art in Our Schools

"When people think Louis Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, there's not enough art in our schools."

Has anyone else seen this asinine ad? Two things:

Why the hell should K-12 schools be teaching children about jazz trumpeters?

And confusing Louis Armstrong with Neil Armstrong says less about the art education children receive in schools than it does about the paltry science education they receive.

WTF?! Upset with the anemic curriculum and apathetic teachers at your child's school? End the public school monopoly!

Die Anmaßung von David Hasselhoff

Quick! Before the ink dries on the pages of history, let us render unto Hasselhoff what is Hasselhoff's.

I reckon I know a thing or two about the German people. My year in Bavaria gave me profound appreciation for the harmony and Ordnung
that typifies their culture. You could set your watch by the arrival and departure of street cars; although you don't have to because any clock you encounter not only runs but displays the correct time. The sidewalks are clean. The dairy products are delicious. A glass of beer is like a meal unto itself. There is almost no crime. Their, um . . . their cities boast some of the most lovely and derivative architecture in the world. Did I mention the street cars?

However, if I were David Hasselhoff, I would not so loudly trumpet my (isolated) success as a singing artist among the German people. Name some German rock bands. There was Nena, Einstürzende Neuebauten, The Scorpions, um . . . yeah, I thought so. German popular culture is a mélange of English and American popular culture with native Germans doing not unadmirable mimicry thereof. The only thing that the German people find engaging about David Hasselhoff is the fact that he is an American with a German last name. (The etymology of which escapes me. Hof is a garden, but in last names it typically refers to a court, as in the residence of royalty. Hassel might be a place or family name.)

Yes, David, you singlehandedly ended the decades long divide between East and West -- not only in Germany but all along the Iron Curtain. The collapse of the communist state itself, the general influence of the Western media, diplomatic inroads by the free countries, a restive populace: All mere chinks in the armor of the evil empire, all taking a backseat to your singing of one cheeseball song in Berlin and squirreling away einen Stück der Mauer for you and your big-titted friends.

Was für einen Arschloch!

(Nausea inducing link via Gawker)

Theists Circle Their Wagons

My best law school buddy, Jarvis, and I were talking yesterday morning about the change in the relationships between the various religions and splinter denominations within the US over the past fifty years or so. There are many stories recalling the bitter enmity that existed between Protestants and Catholics -- as recently as the 1960s. Granted it never reached Belfast levels, but it was palpable. Jarvis mentioned a reactionary group started by Protestants in the wake of calls for federal funding to bus Catholic children to Catholic schools. (Pardon my history here if it errs.) Given this between people who would agree about the fundamentals like the divinity of Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, etc., one can imagine the antipathy that must have been felt for Jews (probably the only other significantly represented religion in the US at that time), as well as any Muslims, Hindus, et al. who managed to find their way to the US and retain their native religiosity.

Compare today's circumstances. Ecumenism is the watchword. Secular thought and lifestyles have closed the ranks of the believers, and the Fundamentalists and the Catholics and Orthodox to Conservative Jews have recognized their common interests. Joe Lieberman and Dr. Laura Schlesinger can spout dogma that appeals to conservative Christians -- not because it is Christ-centered but because it shares a common set of values, irrespective of the death, burial and resurrection of their lord and savior. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson can agree with the imams in the Middle East that 9/11 was a direct result of the US's profligacy. We have Beliefnet and this seemingly erudite weblog, directed not to any particular believer but rather to anyone who still holds a torch for these antiquated mythologies. Is this a good thing?