December Week 4, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange, and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)

Interesting that when I lived in LA, when I paid any attention to them at all, I thought sirens were intrusive and annoying. Now, living in Metaline (Pop. 162), sirens are rare and they instill a more ominous, personal reaction, the wail from the Sheriff's and the arrogant Whoop of the Highway Patrol don't usually cause me any concern. When I hear the long wail of our fire truck or the the scream from Rick Reiber's Police Truck I know that someone I know is in trouble... but it's the cacophony of whoops and trills from the Ambulance that really gets my attention, when I hear that I usually get in my truck and go to see if I can help.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.

Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama quotes (Dalai Lama, b.1935)

Calie and I went to Monica's game in Northport... they won. Sean Manly? got a bad cut over his eye and was taken to the hospital...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

Had tires put on the Chevy Pickup at Can-Am and I replaced the fan belt that operates the power steering... got kind'a dirty but at least I didn't tear up my hands like I usually do. The fan belt actually fixed my power steering!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I am not the least bit interested in the religious aspect of the holiday but I do like the family togetherness facet... same reason I like Thanksgiving and birthday parties.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Susan B Anthony, reformer and suffragist (1820-1906)

Monica Christian and Monica's friend Taylor are at 49° North Mountain Resort snowboarding. Lexi is here with the Grandbabies, Christy is always in a blissful mood when they are here. 

I usually try to write an upbeat Christmas Newsletter but when I cut out all the downbeat and boring stuff the only thing left is I have two new Grand-babies... that's pretty good I guess. Merry Christmas Brooklyn and Michael.

I have heard the railing people do about Wikipedia but I have yet to find an unsupported fact or conscious misrepresentation. Folks that find fault with the contents of Wikipedia usually have had their sacred cow dismembered. No one likes to discover that their beliefs/opinions aren't supported by facts... Wikipedia does that. So... rather than upsetting their mental applecart they seem the bearer contradiction to be flawed.

Interesting to contemplate the cultural differences between us. Bonding does seems to be a earnest undertaking over here. I have heard that the Brits are a reserved bunch but I have never understood why. My New England relatives were pretty closed off, they presented a sort of hale & hardy facade but they rarely shared what was really going on with anyone. 

We like to feel safe and understood as we move from one circle to another. We are bound by family, neighborhood, school, military, work, town, state, country... haven't worked our way up to continent and planet yet sadly. 

When Americans meet we first try to find some commonality, some shared place or experience that will allow us to pretend that we know something about one another. The little town I live in seems to thrive on rituals, they reach out through any means they can find to connect to one another... there are few employers and there is only one Elementary and Junior/High School all the circles intertwine so everyone knows everyone else. Hell, everyone is related to everyone else.

Friday, December 25, 2009

And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war.

Aristotle

Christmas went well. We had lasagna for a change, getting a little tired of turkey... Not knowing what's in store for us next year we cut back considerably this year. We did get the family a Wii and it was/is a big hit.

I started out the year with a  bunch of Christmas glurge and another series of Liberals are at the root of all the worlds problems e-mail. the one that always cracks me up is the Lee Marvin, Bob Keeshan, Mr. Rodgers email about how they were all tough guy war heroes... Lee Marvin was wounded but he was at the battle of Saipan not Iwo Jima, Bob (Captain Kangaroo) Keeshan was in the Army but he joined too late to go over seas and Mr. Rogers was a wonderful man but he was never in the military, he was colorblind. Makes me so tired. Another video blamed the collapse of Detroit on the Liberal/Democratic policies of the 60's... no mention of the automobile industry.... so predictably tiresome. I am also beginning to worry about the Christians, they really seem to feel threatened by just about everything from Charles Darwin to each other. If the whole world doesn't bend to their desires they whine like petulant teenagers about the end of the world.

It seems to me that if they truly believe that they are right about whatever it is they believe in then they shouldn't be threatened by what others believe. How does my atheism affect their Christianity? How does my skepticism threaten their faith?  I really don't get it.

I need to read this every couple of years or so:

The Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann

COLONIAL Christmases'

The first century of colonial life saw few set times and days for pleasure. The holy days of the English Church were as a stench to the Puritan nostrils, and their public celebration was at once rigidly forbidden by the laws of New England. New holidays were not quickly evolved, and the sober gatherings for matters of Church and State for a time took their place. The hatred of "wanton Bacchanallian Christmasses" spent throughout England, as Cotton said, in "revelling, dicing, carding, masking, mumming, consumed in compotations, in interludes, in excess of wine, in mad mirth," was the natural reaction of intelligent and thoughtful minds against the excesses of a festival which had ceased to be a Christian holiday, but was dominated by a lord of misrule who did not hesitate to invade the churches in time of service, in his noisy revels and sports. English Churchmen long ago revolted also against such Christmas observance.

Of the first Pilgrim Christmas we know but little, save that it was spent, as was many a later one, in work.

By 1659 the Puritans had grown to hate Christmas more and more; it was, to use Shakespeare's words, "the bug that feared them all." The very name smacked to them of incense, stole, and monkish jargon; any person who observed it as a holiday by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way was to pay five shillings fine, so desirous were they to "beate down every sprout of Episcopacie." Judge Sewall watched jealously the feeling of the people with regard to Christmas, and noted with pleasure on each succeeding year the continuance of common traffic throughout the day. Such entries as this show his attitude: "Dec. 25, 1685. Carts come to town and shops open as usual. Some somehow observe the day, but are vexed I believe that the Body of people profane it, and blessed be God no authority yet to compel them to keep it." When the Church of England established Christmas services in Boston a few years later, we find the judge waging hopeless war against Governor Belcher over it, and hear him praising his son for not going with other boy friends to hear the novel and attractive services. He says: "I dehort mine from Christmas keeping and charge them to forbear."

Christmas could not be regarded till this century as a New England holiday, though in certain localities, such as old Narragansett -- an opulent community which was settled by Episcopalians -- two weeks of Christmas visiting and feasting were entered into with zest by both planters and slaves for many years previous to the revolution.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.

Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)

Calie has a friend over I am planning to go to the movies tonight "Blind Side".

It was really good, what a cool movie...

Sunday, December 27, 2009

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)

I am going to bet that the Colts Blew the Superbowl when they pulled Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter... I think that the risk to Peyton vs. the motivation to complete a perfect season are not even close. The team wanted that record and now a significant added incentive to win has been lost... dumb.. Trying to pull Brett Favre last week was dumb too.

It is interesting being 66, I know the Irish curse "May you live an interesting life" probably applies. 66 years is a long time... seen a lot, done more than you would expect too.

It is is becoming difficult for me to get very excited about the future... I want to kick back and relax a little. I enjoy the kids, they give me a lot of motivation to keep on going. I am a curious guy and I want to know how stuff is going to turn out.

I think that I have gained a certain perspective when it comes to where I want to get involved, where my energies are of value and where they are wasted. I am not as educated as I would like to be but I am a fussy, eclectic, persistant if somewhat lazy learner. I can't force myself to expend energy becoming an expert on any one thing. I have always enjoyed the notion that I know a little bit about most everything. I wish I knew everything there was to know about something but I have never been able to convince myself that becoming an expert was really all that great a thing. I know several experts and for the most part, though they can prove to be useful at times, they are not very interesting to be around. Did you ever meet a person that presumed that since he was an expert on one thing that he must be an expert on everything. Tiresome, just because you can name all the stars in Orion or give the Latin name for every fish and foul doesn't mean you are the go to oracle on economics or politics or internal combustion engines.

I have to go in to Spokane with Christy and Calie to see the expert  

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another." -  Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama quotes (Dalai Lama, b.1935)
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."  Jimi Hendrix
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." -  John Lennon

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals." - Colman McCarthy
Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace." H. H. the Dalai Lama:
We kind o' thought Christ went agin war an' pillage." James Russell Lowell

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.' Peyton Conway March: