The Parisis, Pooh, Puckett, and the Passage of Time

I was playing racquetball about a year ago and hit a shotgun blast off my racquet squarely into my opponent's balls. I never saw anything like it, the writhing, the screaming. It was primal. I truly understood the idiom, "dropped like a ton of bricks." One could imagine the same thing happening to our ancestors from a million years ago, perhaps if their buddy threw an errant stone at a rabbit.

We were playing again last night and what do you think happened? Nope, guess again. He blasted a serve that came back squarely into his balls. Oh, those poor balls. They are like racquetball magnets. Again he dropped and performed the whole routine.

Once he regained his composure, I let him know that after a year we were finally even.

Thinking about it this morning though, we don't seem quite even. We don't seem quite even at all. Sure, we might be 1-1 from the perspective of his balls, but from his own perspective he's definitely down two, literally and figuratively. 

March 14, 2025

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Oh boy, what a segment on so-called patriots shredding the Constitution, some even saying outright that we need a dictator. (One is actually a presidential candidate.)

A must watch.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/w2vswWhx1qgkHMwv/

March 14, 2024

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Kirby Puckett was born on this day in 1960. From Retro Baseball:

"Kirby Puckett, before Game Six of the 1991 World Series, shared the following story, "I went to the clubhouse, and I gathered 'em up. I said, 'Everybody together, we're going to have a short meeting.' Everybody comes in, and I said, 'Guys, I just have one announcement to make: You guys should jump on my back tonight. I'm going to carry us.'" Puckett carried them: a run scoring triple in the first, a catch in the third inning up the plexiglass fence that is one of the greatest in World Series history, a sac-fly in the third inning to put the Twins ahead, then an extra-inning walk off home run in the eleventh inning to cap off what many fans still refer to as The Puckett Game."

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Strictly in terms of presidential style, I think under-promising, putting in the work, and over-delivering wildly surpasses over-promising, under-delivering, and then working to convince everyone that lies are truth if they just believe in them hard enough.

March 14, 2021

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It seems like everybody who is ignoring the severity of Coronavirus is also ignoring a few key things... the exponential rise in cases, the mortality rate, the contagiousness and how long one is contagious before they even realize they are contagious, the parallels to other countries who are ahead of us, the threat of overloading our healthcare system if we aren't proactive, the list could continue.

They also seem to be too focused on some odd things... it mostly affects old people who already have problems (how is this passed around so nonchalantly?), it's bad but the flu is bad too so therefore they are the same, widespread concern is mistaken for widespread hysteria, the left is just out to get Trump (I guess by pointing out the public health hazard of his own statements contradicting his own experts), media attention is hurting the economy (as if Italy's media sat silent, their economy would be better off right now.)

If Coronavirus is as contagious as the diseases in other recent pandemics, and if the mortality rate is what experts believe it to be, we could all know someone who dies. There's that thing going around to downplay it- do YOU know anybody with it? Well that's the exact point- we don't want to. This is not a reason to go berserk, but it is absolutely a reason to be serious.

So be calm, prepare well, thank the people performing critical duties, and hopefully the only thing you will help spread is good information.

March 14, 2020

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Gretel just asked me which hand I write with. I told her that I write with my right hand and I left with my left hand. She walked away from me.

March 14, 2020

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Public Service Announcement: Don't forget to wash your hands! And then immediately turn off the water by touching the contaminated faucet handle. And then maybe smear those germs all over your hands when drying them with a paper towel. Pat yourself on the back, you did a good job. And now your back is contaminated too.

March 14, 2020

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I'm sure it exists, but I haven't seen any hysteria. I've seen a lot of concern. I've seen a lot of people in line, very orderly stocking up for a couple weeks. Many of them were downright friendly- smiling, offering to hold places in line, striking up conversations, kidding around. Strange how it takes a national emergency to remember that we're all in this together.

March 14, 2020

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Zen Buddhist saying- "If you meet Buddha in the road, kill him."

Noah Yuval Harari- "If while walking on the spiritual path you encounter the rigid ideas and fixed laws of institutionalized Buddhism you must free yourself from them."

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Every once in a while I find myself drinking a third glass of wine while watching a documentary on the Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, or the war against the Native Americans. I don't think it's possible to feel more alive than when you're looking square in the face at that much death. So what's with the wine, a diversion? No, an attempt at communion!

March 14, 2015

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Old dad problem- as I try to sneak out of the room after putting my baby to sleep, my creaking joints wake her back up.

March 14, 2015

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The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto was completed on this day in 1943.

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Birthday boy Albert Einstein, he joined us in 1876.

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Deathday boy Stephen Hawking, he left us on this day in 2019.

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

(Even those with only the illusion of knowledge can agree! And hell, maybe I'm one. If I was, I wouldn't realize it, would I?)

You know what I say? The greatest enemy of truth and knowledge is the illusion of knowledge, gained through an unthinking respect of authority. Everything is easy when you stand on the shoulders of giants. 

Stephen Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death, and died on Einstein's birthday. Coincidence? Yes. Comprehensible? Of course.

Einstein "The most incomprehensible thing about the world, is that it is comprehensible."

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Washington Post article by Lawrence Krauss- The time I took Stephen Hawking to a cowboy bar

From the article:

I told him about a place I knew that was, at the time, a kind of cowboy bar in Woody Creek, a small town nearby but culturally far removed — a place where Hunter Thompson used to hang out. I asked Stephen if he wanted to stop by, and, ever the adventurer, he said yes. I called the bar and asked whether it was wheelchair-accessible, was told it was, and off we went.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived, got out of Stephen’s van, went up a short ramp and went inside. The bar was rustic, with a pool table in the back and several tables up front. The bartender looked up at us and immediately exclaimed: “Well, if you had told me it was Stephen Hawking coming, we would have built a ramp if necessary!”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/03/15/the-time-i-took-stephen-hawking-to-a-cowboy-bar/

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Errol Morris, who directed A Brief History of Time, said that Hawking told him one of the most pessimistic things he's ever heard in his life- that we may not have heard anything from any other alien civilizations because our DNA is essentially the same as it was millions of years ago although our ability to destroy ourselves has increased a millionfold, so by the time a civilization would have had the ability to send the signals, it probably would have already destroyed itself.

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Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh- “The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.” 

One of my favorite tidbits about Einstein, the master of time, is that a colleague kept him waiting for an appointment and thought that he would be mad. Einstein said that it was no matter, that he always has things to think about while waiting.

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But forget space-time for a minute. It's philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty's birthday too. He was born on this day in 1889.

"The body is our general medium for having a world."

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Other notable birthdays- Diane Arbus (1923), Billy Crystal (1947), Simone Biles (1997)

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From the gravestone of Joseph and Madeline Parisi, St. Peter’s Cemetery, Saratoga Springs NY:

"Those who have passed from this world die only when we forget them.”

Now don't forget about them! Their lives depend on it.

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Karl Marx's had this to say as left us on this day in 1883- "Go on, get out - last words are for fools who haven't said enough."

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Edward Abbey left us on this day in 1989.

"If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture—that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves."

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Perhaps the death of Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (and an end of the chaos and disorder that erupted in his presence) will usher in a new dawn of civilization for mankind.

https://youtu.be/xuJHKVQ2kLA

March 14, 2015

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We lost the famed primatologist Frans de Waal on this day in 2024. From The Bonobo and the Atheist:

"Perhaps it's just me, but I am wary of any persons whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior."

His obit:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/science/frans-de-waal-died.html

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Another notable deathdays- Fred Zinneman (1997)

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The Onion- That Sucker Jesus Has Forgiven Me For Some Pretty Bad Sins

http://www.theonion.com/articles/that-sucker-jesus-has-forgiven-me-for-some-pretty,10750

March 14, 2015

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The Atlantic- Why Study Philosophy? 'To Challenge Your Own Point of View'

I love this. From the article:

QUESTION: How early do you think children can, or should, start learning about philosophy?

ANSWER: I started really early with my daughters. They said the most interesting things that if you’re trained in philosophy you realize are big philosophical statements. The wonderful thing about kids is that the normal way of thinking, the conceptual schemes we get locked up in, haven’t gelled yet with them. When my daughter was a toddler, I’d say “Danielle!” she would very assuredly, almost indignantly, say, “I’m not Danielle! I’m this!” I’d think, What is she trying to express? This is going to sound ridiculous, but she was trying to express what Immanuel Kant calls the transcendental ego. You’re not a thing in the world the way there are other things in the world, you’re the thing experiencing other things—putting it all together. This is what this toddler was trying to tell me. Or when my other daughter, six at the time, was talking with her hands and knocked over a glass of juice. She said, “Look at what my body did!” I said, “Oh, you didn’t do that?” And she said, “No! My body did that!” I thought, Oh! Cartesian dualism! She meant that she didn’t intend to do that, and she identified herself with her intentional self. It was fascinating to me.

Also...

They could argue with me about anything. If it were a good argument I would take it seriously. See if you can change my mind. It teaches them to be self-critical, to look at their own opinions and see what the weak spots are. This is also important in getting them to defend their own positions, to take other people’s positions seriously, to be able to self-correct, to be tolerant, to be good citizens and not to be taken in by demagoguery.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/why-study-philosophy-to-challenge-your-own-point-of-view/283954/

March 14, 2017

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The Onion- Inmate’s Last Words Hurt Warden’s Feelings

https://www.theonion.com/inmate-s-last-words-hurt-warden-s-feelings-1848613337

March 14, 2022

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Christopher Hitchens warns about Vladimir Putin

https://youtu.be/83OY6De6Ob4

"Coexistence with psychopathic dictatorships is, in fact, not possible."

Oh Jeez, I'm not sure I want to know the alternative.

March 14, 2022

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You know what's haunted me for years? Ren screaming at Kowalski, the hardened prisoner he adopted that he's about to spank.

"THE PANTS COME DOWN KOWALSKI!!!"

Then after Ren feels bad, his meek...

"Pull them up."

Olds Sleeper- "Haunting indeed...is this why you dont want kids?"

Me- "On the contrary... one reason that I want kids is to watch their faces as they watch dreadful things like this."

https://youtu.be/oZ9BgXTNszQ

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For Pi Day

Mother Jones- What Is the Greatest Number of All Time?

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/03/pi-day-is-a-great-day-for-a-math-argument/

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If a chimpanzee parked like this, I tip my hat.

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Our Most Authoritarian President- "I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad."

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Valin Hess, Mandalorian Episode 15- "Everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. When they realize that they will come us back."

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William S. Burroughs' final journal entry- “Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller what there is.”

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Eddie Murphy- "When I was a kid it was a big deal to get a soda after dinner. We'd get a 12 oz can of soda and have to split it three ways. Now I have a room of soda."

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Nicolas Cage on Patricia Arquette- "I met her at Canter’s, a deli, a long time ago - eight years ago. I said, “I want to marry you.” She said, “You’re crazy,” and she didn’t believe me. No, but I was serious. So I asked her to put me on a quest. At the end of that quest, if I succeeded in bringing her what she asked for, then she would have to marry me. When she gave me the list, I knew even more that this was the right person for me, because it was so inventive and creative. She wanted a black orchid. She wanted J.D. Salinger’s signature - and anybody who reads knows that he hardly ever signed anything. She wanted a wedding dress from the Lisu tribe in northern Thailand and one of those Bob’s Big Boy statues. So I set out on my quest."

He completed his quest, they dated for a little bit, lost touch, ran into each other years later and got married from 1995 to 2005.

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Will Durant, The Age of Voltaire- "The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds." 

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Kahnman- "Odd as it may seem, I am my remembering self, and the experiencing self, who does my living, is like a stranger to me.x

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Flannery O'Connor- “Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” 

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Werner Herzog- “I despise formal restaurants. I find all of that formality to be very base and vile. I would much rather eat potato chips on the sidewalk.”

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Steven Wright- "I went to San Francisco. I found somebody's heart."

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Mitch Hedberg- "I like rice. Rice is great if you want to eat 2,000 of something."

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Hagakure- "The essentials of speaking are in not speaking at all. If you think that you can finish something without speaking, finish it without saying a single word. If there is something that cannot be accomplished without speaking, one should speak with few words, in a way that will accord well with reason."

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Penn Jillette- "It's fair to say that the Bible contains equal amounts of fact, history, and pizza."

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Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow- "The world makes much less sense than you think. The coherence comes mostly from the way your mind works."

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Bukowski:

“Can you remember who you were, 

before the world told you who 

you should be.”

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Addendum:

Critical article!

The Atlantic- HOW TO BUILD AN AUTOCRACY by David Frum

Oh boy, if you have a spare 45 minutes, please read this. Nothing but highlights. David Frum is a former Bush speechwriter. His arguments are above party afiliation. A few paragraphs that stood out:

"Donald Trump, however, represents something much more radical. A president who plausibly owes his office at least in part to a clandestine intervention by a hostile foreign intelligence service? Who uses the bully pulpit to target individual critics? Who creates blind trusts that are not blind, invites his children to commingle private and public business, and somehow gets the unhappy members of his own political party either to endorse his choices or shrug them off? If this were happening in Honduras, we’d know what to call it. It’s happening here instead, and so we are baffled."

"In an online article for The New York Review of Books, the Russian-born journalist Masha Gessen brilliantly noted a commonality between Donald Trump and the man Trump admires so much, Vladimir Putin. “Lying is the message,” she wrote. “It’s not just that both Putin and Trump lie, it is that they lie in the same way and for the same purpose: blatantly, to assert power over truth itself.”

"In an 1888 lecture, James Russell Lowell, a founder of this magazine, challenged the happy assumption that the Constitution was a “machine that would go of itself.” Lowell was right. Checks and balances is a metaphor, not a mechanism."

"Donald Trump will not set out to build an authoritarian state. His immediate priority seems likely to be to use the presidency to enrich himself. But as he does so, he will need to protect himself from legal risk. Being Trump, he will also inevitably wish to inflict payback on his critics. Construction of an apparatus of impunity and revenge will begin haphazardly and opportunistically. But it will accelerate. It will have to."

"Trump will try hard during his presidency to create an atmosphere of personal munificence, in which graft does not matter, because rules and institutions do not matter. He will want to associate economic benefit with personal favor. He will create personal constituencies, and implicate other people in his corruption. That, over time, is what truly subverts the institutions of democracy and the rule of law. If the public cannot be induced to care, the power of the investigators serving at Trump’s pleasure will be diminished all the more."

"You would never know from Trump’s words that the average number of felonious killings of police during the Obama administration’s tenure was almost one-third lower than it was in the early 1990s, a decline that tracked with the general fall in violent crime that has so blessed American society. There had been a rise in killings of police in 2014 and 2015 from the all-time low in 2013—but only back to the 2012 level. Not every year will be the best on record."

"At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in December, Trump got to talking about Vladimir Putin. “And then they said, ‘You know he’s killed reporters,’ ” Trump told the audience. “And I don’t like that. I’m totally against that. By the way, I hate some of these people, but I’d never kill them. I hate them. No, I think, no—these people, honestly—I’ll be honest. I’ll be honest. I would never kill them. I would never do that. Ah, let’s see—nah, no, I wouldn’t. I would never kill them. But I do hate them.”

"Demagogues need no longer stand erect for hours orating into a radio microphone. Tweet lies from a smartphone instead."

"The oft-debated question “Is Donald Trump a fascist?” is not easy to answer. There are certainly fascistic elements to him: the subdivision of society into categories of friend and foe; the boastful virility and the delight in violence; the vision of life as a struggle for dominance that only some can win, and that others must lose.

Yet there’s also something incongruous and even absurd about applying the sinister label of fascist to Donald Trump. He is so pathetically needy, so shamelessly self-interested, so fitful and distracted. Fascism fetishizes hardihood, sacrifice, and struggle—concepts not often associated with Trump."

"Perhaps this is the wrong question. Perhaps the better question about Trump is not “What is he?” but “What will he do to us?”

"Get into the habit of telephoning your senators and House member at their local offices, especially if you live in a red state. Press your senators to ensure that prosecutors and judges are chosen for their independence—and that their independence is protected. Support laws to require the Treasury to release presidential tax returns if the president fails to do so voluntarily. Urge new laws to clarify that the Emoluments Clause applies to the president’s immediate family, and that it refers not merely to direct gifts from governments but to payments from government-affiliated enterprises as well. Demand an independent investigation by qualified professionals of the role of foreign intelligence services in the 2016 election—and the contacts, if any, between those services and American citizens. Express your support and sympathy for journalists attacked by social-media trolls, especially women in journalism, so often the preferred targets. Honor civil servants who are fired or forced to resign because they defied improper orders. Keep close watch for signs of the rise of a culture of official impunity, in which friends and supporters of power-holders are allowed to flout rules that bind everyone else."

"Those citizens who fantasize about defying tyranny from within fortified compounds have never understood how liberty is actually threatened in a modern bureaucratic state: not by diktat and violence, but by the slow, demoralizing process of corruption and deceit. And the way that liberty must be defended is not with amateur firearms, but with an unwearying insistence upon the honesty, integrity, and professionalism of American institutions and those who lead them. We are living through the most dangerous challenge to the free government of the United States that anyone alive has encountered. What happens next is up to you and me. Don’t be afraid. This moment of danger can also be your finest hour as a citizen and an American."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/

March 14, 2017