Aging gracefully, one skin-tag at a time

PARTY POLITICS…

…and it so happened that “Party Politics” was born perhaps hundreds of thousands of years before George Washington warned against the prospect. 

Two Nameless Upright Bipeds encountered each other one fine afternoon by A local stream that their two tribes utilized for various purposes.  One, grasping a large stone as he studied the movements of two small fish by where he was standing, happened to glance over to observe the other NUB grasping a stick over his head while he did the same thing.  Their eyes met and grunts were heard as each vigorously displayed his chosen tool of potential violence.  The pending brunch was forgotten as the gestures gained in energy and emphasis, and the NUBs began to feel that sensation one feels during the hunt when their eyes lock with those of larger, more ferocious prey than a fish. 

Thus, the unspoken disagreement was eventually settled, not on the basis of which tool most swiftly and efficiently dispatched a fish, but by which nameless upright biped was first able to dispatch the other.

Free Speech…

That One Word…

American Taliban

…Okay, Okay…I’ll probably be kickin’ a hornet’s nest, but…

On Molesting Maine

Putting lipstick on a pig yields ….a pig with lipstick…

THE HUMAN BRAIN…

Model T of the 21st Century….

At the risk of sounding like my mother hollering out the back door that I’ll break my neck, I’m going to sputter about a downside to our current Never-Never-Land of technology toys. We seem to be obsessed with finding ways to avoid thinking and doing, those antiquated and unnecessarily strenuous approaches to enjoying existence. Ergo:

The first time I encountered an advertisement for Grammarly, I was reminded of two things from my past. The first was the “blue book library” maintained by the fraternity house back in my college days. Since academic prowess afforded brownie points to members of the Greek community, it was considered important to assist everyone’s performance in that area. Ergo, the “blue book library” was a collection of old exams and term papers from the previous decades which one could consult or plagiarize when necessary or simply desired.

Secondly, the idea of a computer program that corrects my spelling errors and other linguistic misfires seems to present a rather stupid alternative to learning the material myself. It is said that we learn from our mistakes, so what do we learn when we are rescued from the bother of making any? To add a little sugar to that already presweetened intellectual pastry, the program will even suggest “better” ways to express an idea! As a former editor of sorts, any robotically created or enhanced piece landing on my, desk would have immediately ricocheted to the nearest waste basket.

I love writing and I particularly value writing well, if not briefly. Words are some of the human being’s most fundamental tools, and skillful use of any tool is an asset. But for some, including me, words are also toys that are perpetually new, enjoyable, and educational. I think my greatest violation of that pursuit is that I sometimes tend to create week-long sentences that are a blast to put together but communicate absolutely nothing of value.

Sadly, the arrival of such a computer application on the scene doesn’t surprise me. It fits right in with the dominant philosophy of the times, which is that appearances, are far more important than reality. The twenty first century is a western movie set from another age where everything one sees is little more than plywood and cheap paint. Once the desired impression has been made or the idea at least planted, the veneer is abandoned to the fate of the winds. Whether or not the seed takes root is apparently of little concern, the only value lying in the shallow drama of demonstrating an “effort”, whether real or parodied.

I fail to see the purpose in such a waste of time, unless it would be the ready availability of a computer generated voice responding “I tried” to any suggestion of failure. The computer is being established as the ultimate authority over human thought and action. That’s sad. Perhaps I was on the right track twenty five years ago when I took my first “computer” down to a local gravel pit, along with my .357 magnum revolver and executed a rather poignant editorial, if I do say so myself.

I don’t see how an AI activity designed to replace the need to think for oneself, or to even perform one’s own ADLs, could possibly be considered a thing of value. The fad these days is to have a little electronic chamber slave in every room to prepare coffee, turn lights on or off, play music, answer simple questions, and more. Why not have one stuck in one’s back pocket to do menial classroom work for its master? Back in the day, that was called a “crib sheet.”

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On blowing in your ear…

while picking your pocket….

I vaguely remember reading about it, maybe a year ago. Maine’s biggest electric company wanted to build upgraded transmission lines to carry “green” energy from Canada to Massachusetts, supposedly to help lower the cost of electricity from the New England grid, and detoxify the air we breathe (?) because of all those oil and coal fired generating stations. “It’s a good deal for Maine, ” they beamed. Not too many events enable me to lower one eyebrow while raising the other. My sister used to be able to do that just for the hell of it. The electric company’s Grand Plan caused me to lower one eyebrow while raising the other. Repeatedly. I think they may be stuck…

My first thought, joining the questioning mumbles from the general population was “Wha?” Canadian hydro-electric power cuts through Maine’s wilderness to Massachusetts and somehow that’s supposed to make everybody wet their pants or something?

The justifications, alleged benefits, and promises of “no harm” took over the airwaves and cyberspace like body noises at Oktoberfest, the company’s focus being on plans to use existing corridors through most of the Maine woods and the need to cut but a minimal distance for new construction the remainder of the way to Massachusetts.

Only Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny could be more caring. Horse feathers.

The problem, or at least one of them, was that the public’s trust in the energy company was already at a subterranean level when the Grand Plan was announced. Earlier, the company had begun a conversion to new “smart meters” that would not only save money by giving traditional Meter Readers the opportunity to start new careers flipping burgers at the local fast food joints, but would improve efficiency and yadda yadda. Turned out, however, that people were hit with bills that were double or more what they had been accustomed to. Shut-off warnings sprinkled down like snowflakes. Lovely. The PUC (Public Utilities Commission) exonerated the electric company, ruling that their new meters worked just fine, but with little or no believable explanations for why Grandma, who never had more than one light on, and only boiled enough water for tea suddenly seemed to have used enough electricity to light up the neighborhood and soak up the lion’s share of a Social Security check.

The idea of running the transmission lines through Maine, much of it wooded land valued for its wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and more, to feed the grid in Massachusetts just couldn’t be sold to Mainers as any kind of a boon or gift.

Then, not long ago, the Portland Sunday newspaper ran a multi-page story about where the Canadian “Green Energy” would be coming from. Apparently, the home territory of a number of indigenous people was being converted to hydroelectric production, which, of course, was screwing up habitats the people had called home since the Methuselah Tree was a twig. Good article. Put a whole new view on the situation.

The electric company’s ads subsequently underwent a sudden change. The new pitch claims the Manna from Canada would be spilled on Lewiston, Maine, making it a Maine windfall after all! The remaining transmission lines to Massachusetts, and the required construction, were given an “oh, by the way” “small print” postscript mention.

The grass-roots organization opposing the energy corridor managed to collect tens of thousands of signatures from people also opposed to the project, and enough of them passed muster with the State to help move the conflict closer to the November ballot as a Citizen Initiative.

In response, the organization formed to fight on behalf of the electric company has charged that the petitions were illegally collected and apparently they will be suing to prevent the matter from being given to the people as referendum.

So, the dance continues. I’d love to be a blackfly on the wall at Augusta to witness the arm-twisting and other back-room shenanigans the power company and their goons try with the Legislature and various agencies in order to accomplish their goal whether the people like it or not.

I don’t buy their story about this idea being the best thing for Maine since pine trees. No self-respecting company would put up such a rabid fight against their own customers unless it was actually the mother lode for the company itself.

 

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Different Day…

Same @&%#….

I first became aware of the phenomenon back in college when the explosion of adolescent hubris of that time was focused on the usual collection of pre-us values, especially the social operating mandates of post-war America, and the rejection of same. The sixties became known as the “sex, drugs, and Rock and Roll” era, which is only somewhat true, being greatly exaggerated and widely romanticized. It was a time of assassinations, violence, and war. It was the birthplace of today’s neo-liberal fanaticism about the evils of social inequity and anything remotely associated with Corporate America. One of the favorite pariahs of this movement was and still is Big Oil, especially Exxon-Mobil. The whole idea, as I understand it, is to expose how Corporate America colludes with crooked politicians (especially Republicans) to suck the national coffers dry via corporate welfare while at the same time enjoying huge tax breaks at the expense of the poor, abused Middle Class America and the nation’s needy. 

Enough. Onward to the point.

Those who seem to have a knack for winning at King of the Mountain have always earned the ire of a certain percentage of those who don’t have said knack, some of it deserved and some of it not. It depends on how far astray of the line between “right and wrong” the winners roam on their way to the top…and that’s a subjective quality.

The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century brought with it unprecedented changes in all aspects of earthly existence as farm boys and fishermen left the familiar traditions and lifestyles to labor in the factories of the cities for regular cash paydays. Humankind moved forward in a cascade of new ideas and inventions and, as is always the case, there were plenty of opportunists waiting in the wings to exploit open doors and the naïve. Those who were especially gifted along those lines inspired the previously naïve to form unions which in some cases was a good idea and in others was simply a fresh canvas for the unscrupulous to paint on

As the last half of the twentieth century progressed, the Digital/Technological Revolution burst upon the scene much as its predecessor had. A new round of King of the Mountain morphed in. Oddly enough, one thing that didn’t change was the creating of scapegoats to explain why some were stuck at the bottom or partway up instead of at the top. With the rapid fire development of amazing new technologies and the computer age, the familiar “brick and mortar” industrial scene began to leave for new ground in third world and undeveloped countries. Nevertheless, with the transition far from over, the barons of the Smokestack Economy were still blamed for the shortcomings of the developing Digital Economy.

Those known as “activists” don’t really change much from one era to the next. Only the stages on which they play and the music to which they dance change. Thus, with the odd juxtaposition of the changed and the unchanged, the New Wave texted and messaged and watched movies on a device still strangely described as a “telephone” while they “occupied” the personal space of Corporate America to make them aware of the errors of their ways.

The thing is, the landscape has changed. While the old standards such as Exxon, General Motors, and Boeing are still forces to be reckoned with, i.e. busy and profitable enterprises, the new kids on the block play differently

While the new Guardians of the High Moral Ground rail at Old Barons, Banking Money, and Big Oil, it’s the under-forty billionaires and other folks who make their new toys who they should be paying attention to. You know, folks like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, Naver, Seznam, Amazon, eBay, Kayak, LinkedIn, WebMD, Twitter, Criteo, AppNexus, Netflix, Hulu, Apple, and more. Those are the new landlords of your gluteus maximi, and those of the foreseeable generations to follow, and they have a new game plan

Take Google for example. Folks like me, “non-techies” or techies of limited capacity at best, if you will, still think of Google as an electronic dictionary or research librarian. Well. I don’t anymore. I googled some interesting information (I never claimed to be perfect).

What we know as “Google” was actually restructured in 2015 as a multinational conglomerate named Alphabet Inc., wherein all of Google’s former subsidiaries became independent entities and part of the new parent organization, Alphabet Inc. No big deal. Companies play musical chairs all the time. Most people understand that they do this in order to improve their bottom line. And, only the naïve believe that the press releases tell the whole story. Today, there is also at least one new layer of camouflage and misdirection to wander through.

One can’t move from one pixel to the next in the internet universe without first indicating that the Terms of Service have been read in their entirety and signed off on. The thing is, nobody actually reads them beyond a cursory scan of the first paragraph or two; these epic word salads could make a Washington lawyer’s eyes roll back in his head. Buried somewhere therein is a vague suggestion that the company promises to protect the user’s privacy and will only share information “in house” and with their subsidiaries or associated businesses which, of course, includes everybody in their incestuous global nest. There are also footnotes declaring that merely finding oneself on their doorstep constitutes tacit but binding acceptance of those Terms. The musical chairs activities of the twenty first century digital technology economy, however, have less to do with accounting measures than they do with maneuvering around the privacy landscape. This is crucial because, unbeknownst to many, is the fact that the primary product of the industry, across the board, is the personal information of each user.

You and I are not considered to be customers, or the end users like in the old days; now, we are the raw materials; we are a “Profit Center”.

The business universe has always geared its marketing efforts to wherever it believes it can make the most money, based upon what they can learn about their potential customers. This isn’t bad, it’s common sense. I do not condemn Google or any of the other tech companies for trying to turn a profit. In fact, I commend them for it. If it hadn’t been for selected people trying to do more and to do it better, humankind would likely never have invented the wheel. To gather the bits and pieces of information, they would ask questions and run surveys, among other things. Statistical analysis of the accumulated data, if the process has been carefully designed and executed, can produce predictions of varying degrees of reliability regarding who is most likely to buy what, and when and where they might do that. One thing I learned in Elementary Statistical Analysis is that figures don’t lie, but liars can figure, which doesn’t necessarily apply directly to the matter at hand, but there is a kinship of sorts.

The modern version uses “algorithms”, or systems of rules applied to data, to predict the nature of future data. The algorithm tool also gathers trainloads of facts which are then inhaled by the resident computer to establish probabilities. One main difference in my experience was that I took Elementary Statistics back in the sixties when we were limited to reams of paper and a whole lot of pencils instead of just pushing a button.

The political climate today is the one I worry about, not the one that melts ice caps and creates hurricanes. The movers and shakers of the world have always born the burdens of jealousy, resentment, and just plain old deviant opposition, but they obviously have prevailed anyway. I don’t find that to be the least bit surprising. However, the vitriol has seemed to be especially pointed in recent years as the wealthy, the producers, and wealth itself have been demonized. In fact, there is an entire avenue of thought that the moral high ground is to be held by those who take possession and control of wealth and redistribute it according to formulas created by those other than the ones who created it in the first place. While often twisted, the human mind is nevertheless rather bright and clever, and coming up with rationalizations to justify the foulest of schemes, such as one to confiscate the property of others, has not been much of a challenge.  Heck, government plowed that ground eons ago.

This movement has perverted wealth, productivity, financial success, and even the concept of goodness itself in an effort to conquer those who can and will and enslave them to serve and feed those who could but won’t. The insidiousness lies in the fact that the moral high ground of caring about others and trying to help them has been shanghaied by those who have turned it into an industry and a collection of bureaucracies. This is the New Economy, if it is allowed to survive. It is entirely founded upon the concept of enforced collectivism, allegedly with the intent of doing unprecedented good.

The question is, according to whom? Those who have produced nothing but somehow lay claim to unquestionable, infallible wisdom about how to best use the productivity of those who produce everything?

An old political metaphor, Smoke and mirrors, refers to the sleight of truth practiced by unprincipled politicians, but it applies to the matter at hand as well. This activity is dangerous as well as evil. The smoke blinds the eyes of those who practice it and the mirrors distort the reflections of their own creation. People come to believe their own madness because it defines them.

People have stopped this slimy advance of self serving rot many times down through history and presumably before. Ultimately, those who won’t discover that they can’t as soon as those who can decide there is no longer the same excitement in doing. So they don’t. It is then that a more natural course of events can again begin to function.

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