I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

January 03, 2013 - 10:56 a.m.

The Way Things Work or Not

I somehow managed to forget to update today. How did I do that? should I just wait till the morning? I think I'm going to start writing it now and finish in the morning,. That sounds exciting. Um well it sounds something,.

Today's adventures were in two parts. First I went to pick up my mail at my po box. I didn't have any. It's right next to my school so I stopped by my office for a bit. OK that isn't much of an adventure. Part two was going back to Hogwarts to get some stuff I left there. Should I call it my palantiri? It included my computer, monitor, and TV set. They are sort of like palantiri, they let me see things from afar and if you have one I can communicate with you. I have probably lost most of you already. The palantiri are the crystal balls from Lord of the Rings.

Remembered how hard it was to call a cab last time I needed to move things from Hogwarts I called from my office so one would be ready when I needed it. I was told it would be there in ten minutes. I said I needed it in an hour. They told me to all back then. I hopped on the Hogwarts express which is really the local, grabbed some dinner and went up to Hogwarts. I was greeted by mini-Hagrid and her son, OK there is nothing close to an equivalent in Harry Potter, helped me down to the lobby with my stuff. I got down there called the cab company and they told me. "We don't have a car available now" and hung up on me. I called back and told the guy that I called an hour before and they said to call back when I'm ready and when I did they just hung up on me. He explained as if to an idiot that I'd have to pay a lot more for a reservation. I said so what should I do, he said call back again in five minutes. I tried to find another cab using my phone but couldn't so I called back and this time they said, "be there in ten minutes. Why didn't he just tell me the first time, "be there in 20 minutes?" I can't believe how bad their customer service is. I will never use them again. Then loaded my stuff in the back. It was an SUV which is good because I had a lot of stuff. What was bad was that there was stuff in the back. I laid the monitor and TV flat in the back but the computer tower ended up standing up as if it was in use. I said I wasn't happy with that but the driver assured it was fine. You know what happened. As we were getting on the Brooklyn bridge I heard it fall on the TV. it didn't crack the TV but who know if any damage was done to one or the other.

See this is an adventure.

I was happy that I could guide him right to the Last Homely House West of the Mountains. If you've read LOTR or The Hobbit you know that it isn't easy. I have never driven here but I now have my above ground mental map. That isn't the same as a subway view of the world. I am not happy without my mental map. My shrink's office is a bit of a labyrinth but I finally got it mapped in my head.

I'm going to bed now. In the morning I'll write about politics or religion or both. This will remind me.

It's the morning. So what do I write about politics or religion? Maybe neither. How about a pet peeve? The other day Meg asked people to suggested doomed fictional married couples for a song. People then proceeded to suggested real people and couples that weren't married. It might have been a majority of the suggestions. It always annoys me when people seem to be oblivious to a topic. It makes me think of when Sarah Palin responded to a question with something that was in no way an answer and said that she was answering it, just not the way the questioner wanted. Students often have problems like that even in math. They explicitly stated point of a question is knowing a particular method and they answer without using the method. Maybe it is a perceptual thing and people just can't see that way of parsing the universe.

Now for the politics. I'll go there as it has to do with the way we perceive things. So much of the differences in conservative and liberal policies stem from difference perceptions of fairness and how well things functions. Conservatives few the world as inherently fair and well run. Things are the way they are because that's what's best. In the old days this meant the divine right of kings. Today it means accepting the perfect functioning of markets so that people are rich or poor based purely on their own actions and any interfering in markets can only make things worse. Conservatives are against regulation and social spending as they perceive them as doing harm by taking things away from the natural order.

Liberals lack this inherent faith though don't believe the opposite that everything is wrong. That's nihilists and not an important political force except in terms of violent revolutionaries. Liberals think that things aren't perfect, that markets fail and must be regulated. They think that people use power advantages to create underserved economic advantages. They acknowledge that sometimes there is just misfortune through no fault of anyone.

The conservative mindset was exemplified by the Calvinist notion of predestination. What's odd is that the regions where the Puritans settled are now liberal. How did that happen?

Now I'm hungry. I have to figure out what to do for breakfast. I might see if the Last Homely House West of the Mountains has what I need to make an omelet. I haven't had one in ages.



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please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile January 03, 2013
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