The Lady Aunt Helen

   

                Aunt Helen is a gem. She is a role model for everywoman.
                 Serving her family
                  Serving his family
                  serving their family
                   without question
                   without doubt
 there was the job to be done and she did it
her job  was, caring for
she was always there caring for all of us
whether she liked us or not
whether she was tired or not
everyone the the best she had to offer
and everything she gave was the best

She noticed everyone, what they were doing
what they were feeling
she observed, she communicated
she said everything she wanted to say
blunt and outspoken
saying everything everyone was thinking
but were always embarrassed to say

she questioned everything
"why are you doing that?"
"why did you do that?"

there was never judgement in her demeanor
she never demeaned anyone
everyone was valuable
everyone was important

And she was funny!
looking and finding the humor in everything
always enjoying to laugh

She respected everyone
even the youngest littlest child
she treated everyone the same
as though they were treasures
that she nurtured

feeding cleaning cooking ironing
sewing singing laughing smiling
hugging loving caring feeding
feeding all the needs of the family
all the time every time accepting
responsibility for every member of
the family one hundred percent

her gift to the family was her
she gave of herself as though
our lives depended on it
and they did
she loved and hugged us till we knew
beyond the shadow of a doubt that we
were loved

and we all grew up and went away and
led our own lives
few of us remembering to remember her
few of us forgetting to remember her

she sits in her home paralyzed and mute
and yet she still speaks to all of us every
day, she reaches us
every day
and some of us think it is our own ideas
that move us
when it is her motivation that moved us
to where we are today

some of us still hug her and love her
and some of us forget that she is still
here

she taught us to stand on our own two feet
we have grown
we have reached
and we have achieved
and she was proud of us
and she did it
she let us be who we must be
and she did what she had to do
probably because she chose to do
what she had to do

and we wish you all got to know
The Lady Aunt Helen

Gutenberg's Printing Press

    Learning something new everyday keeps the mind sharp
    learning something everyday keeps the spirit alive

learning something

is something worth learning

something is anything

thing is some and any

nay thing is singular

any may be many

old age is difficult to accept
watching the body deteriorate is boring
keeping the mind young ignores the age of the body it occupies
separating the deterioration of the body from the rest of the reality of the day
is a far more interesting pastime

using everything available to expand the minds knowledge is a personal joy that can be repeated as often as every day and several times a day

living in the world before the computer and before the printing press the common man wallowed in ignorance.
thanks and kudos to Guttenberg.
Without Guttenberg and his printing press we would all be slaves to the few who owned and read the very select verses that were hand written by a few for even fewer.

Spend a day without reading and imagine a lifetime without the printed word.
Hail Hail Guttenberg.

Without him there would be no computer, without him the collective intelligence would be primitive. We would still be grovelling in the dirt trying to survive.
Now because of him, we have the ability and have achieved the ability to advance beyond the stages of survival and enjoy some of the pleasures of life. We some of us, have free time. We have the time to enhance our knowledge and expand our horizons.

We can grow instead of grovel.
Guttenberg gave the common man the gift of life, he made it easy for many to learn new things and to teach others who in turn taught others and others and others. And these others have celebrated his life by giving us the computer, which has given us the ability to learn what we want to learn when we want to learn it.

We now, in the privacy of our own home can search the archives of the world to discover all the treasures no longer hidden in the bowels of small minds who did not understand the value of ALL people advancing in awareness and knowledge.

The more people know about everything the more we advance as a culture. It is the collective awareness and contributions that expand and enhance everything we touch. It is the small little contributions from individuals that turn the key to making things better and stronger.

Some little individual commenting about how something could be done better or adding something to make something look better or wear better is the collective individuals that make up the team that makes the advances for man and wo-man kind.

Instead of sitting back and watching the body rot, there are millions of individuals that are still growing and giving for and of themselves. And much of this progress is the result of one man, Gutenberg - and I don't even know his first name, because I always sang the praise of Gutenberg's printing press.

Horses

Big animals
strong animals

with eyes that see one eye at a time
a horse must meet you twice
once with the right eye
and once with the left eye

if they only meet you with one eye
you may scare them with the other on e

the horse cannot see their mouth
therefore beware what you put in fron t
of the horses mouth

like all other animals includin g humans
kindness goes a long way
yet only strength is what the horse
understands as who is boss
boss not brute
and the beast will be your friend

a horses gentleness is expressed from the nose
nuzzling is a bonding experience

when a human connects with an animal
perhaps it is then possible for the human

to connect with yet another animal
and we either become like animals
or they become like human

bring out the beast in us is sometimes
not such a bad thing
perhaps

Not new

               apples
      the healthy fruit
     cleans the teeth
    cleans the plumbing
    needs no refrigeration
     needs no packaging

    In the old days we made sandwiches for school lunch and wrapped them in waxed paper and small brown paper bags, or a hot lunch was placed in a tin pot with a cover and handle.

   There were no stores to go to buy lunches to bring to school, planning the day before was the rule. Make the lunch the night before and remove it from the frig on the way out the door.

   There were neighborhoods then, small communities where people knew each other.

   Apartment houses changed some of that, more people crowded into smaller spaces.

   Jobs are what rule. Where ever the jobs are, the people are. Immigrants flock to find work.
  People need to eat. The Catholic church use to preach having kids was a duty that all had to perform, the more the merrier.  The church probably still wants that to happen but have no plan for what to do with all those people and how to feed them. Trust in the lord, they say.
Some people do, and what happens is, their families take pity on them and give them what they need to survive. Charity. Charity fosters paralysis. Giving a gift to someone is a good thing. Sharing what you have is good for the giver and the receiver.

When the receiver sits back and waits for it to be delivered without earning it, they lose self respect and therein lies the problem.

No one truly knows when to stop giving, when giving tool much breeds contempt, when entitlement breeds a shallow heart.

Motivation is self taught through observation. Role models play a crucial part in the development of the individual. The individual who observes others working hard and respecting themselves appreciates the honor of the struggle.

There were men working to install a new heating system at a home. The arrived for work and one young man was observed changing his clean pressed short sleeved very worn shirt neatly, then placing it in the truck bed with his keys and wallet. He then put on his work shirt. When the day was done he removed his work shirt and put on this thinly worn shirt that was barley fabric. Any thinner it would be the king putting on his imaginary clothes. Yet this man with pride donned the shirt which should have been thrown on the trash heap. Satisfied with himself and the days work which he had done, crawling on his back in a basement crawl space, working like Michelangelo building his masterpiece, fabricating the duct work for the heating system.

Eight hours on his back on the damp earth, with his arms stretched, watching out of the corner of his eye for snakes an vermin. It wasn't an expensive installation, so he probably wasn't paid very much. He was happy for the work, happy for the opportunity to feed his family. The days work done, he left, proudly wearing his well worn, shadow of a shirt that was wash and ironed many many times before by someone who cared for the shirt as if it was new.

Change

           THE SAME, THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME.
WAR IS  A BATTLE OF THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS. THE FIGHT OF THE WANTS.
SOCIETY AS A WHOLE IS CONTENT WITH STRIVING STRUGGLING AND STARVING POPULATIONS UNTIL THEY BECOME UNRULY AND UNCONTROLLABLE.

         IT IS A SITUATION THAT IS PROBABLY UNSOLVABLE. WE FUNCTION UNDER THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM WHICH ENABLES US TO ADVANCE TECHNOLOGICALLY BUT DOES NOT ENSURE THE GROWTH OF THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION.

the unsupported

                     Some have been fortunate to have a support system that gives them the strength and courage to continue through adversity. Whatever they do they have their cheerleaders to bolster them and root them on. They are the beautiful people that everyone rallies behind and cannot do enough for, whether or not they need the help.
                    
                   Their support system is so strong they are never alone, there is always someone who encourages and clears the way. They are the lucky stiffs who get everything handed to them, perhaps on a silver platter. They are smart or adaptable enough to have no difficulties learning, they may not be stars just average people who can do things easily and quietly lead their lives expecting nothing yet grateful for what they have and have achieved. They are likable characters who have had  the good fortune to win the luck of the draw.


                    Then there are the worker bees who must forge the lonely trail alone. They get no help from the clan instead they throw road blocks to block the path. They seldom get awards they simply must continue on their own with help from no one. They must cheer for themselves and take pleasure in their own achievements regardless of any recognition.

                    They have no choice of cheering squads, they cheer alone and observe the parades for others.
Occasionally they wonder what they are doing wrong, are they appearing to be so strong that no one sees the need to rally to their side, or are they alienating by their achievements.

                    Years go by and both characters are closely tied together. Both have achieved success by their own standards, yet one is solitary and has found amusement in their own company, keeping themselves occupied with mind games, spending time learning about the world and the self.

                    There is no kudos aloud by the crowd
                    There is only an audience of one
                     Cheering
                       and rooting
                       and encouraging
                       and ignoring the ignoring others
                     living in a solitary world
                       working
                      filling the hours and the minutes
                      till the hours and minutes are filled

                        

Walmart Deli roasted red pepper asiago dip

Now I am beginning to get angry, first I see Maxwell House selling Hazelnut Cafe without hazelnuts then I discover Walmart Deli roasted red pepper asiago dip.

The main ingredient is cream cheese then salt then stabilizers then water next a cheese blend after which is asiago then further down a list of things one of which is a mold inhibitor then red peppers and some more things including food.

Where is the agency that monitors false advertising, here I am, I monitor false advertising and report it. The government is let us say preoccupied with other things or is unwilling to control or monitor big business.

Sloppy shopping is what these vendors are counting on. They hope we are in a hurry and only read the product name and not the list of ingredients.

We are filling/ we are allowing them to fill our bodies with things that we would not feed ourselves. Anyone who does not go out to dinner has to buy foodstuffs. One of the ways the vendor makes money is to offer something as a replacement for the real thing. Fake food.

Do you want to grow up to be big and strong, use to be a food advertising slogan, promising good things if you ate their product.

This stuff can't be good for anyone, it isn't even tasty, yet it is sold to the unsuspecting buyer as food.

Please be more careful, I say to my partner, you are wasting money and possibly buying something that could harm you. Have you investigated all the ingredients before you buy some of this junk that is labeled food.

Eating a few nuts, a piece of fruit, a slice of real cheese, a slice of wholewheat bread and you have a meal. Eat something real, so you know what it is and you know what is going into your body. How do you know how some of this stuff will react with coffee, wine or even tea.

If you insist upon eating crap drink lots of water to wash the stuff out of your system as soon as possible.

Better still throw your money out the window, it is safer and healthier for you and may prevent these companies from false advertising and selling stuff we can't pronounce.

This you say is a new age, space travel and overpopulation and scarce resources, poppycock I say.

Someone said, you are what you eat. Whatever you put into your body becomes your body unless your body throws it out - if you are lucky - your body throws it out.

Perhaps they are being paid by the AMA to guarantee business.
Every way you look at it - you must be careful - you may be paying a premium for cream cheese -at the least - at the most, you are ingesting something the body was not made to ingest, otherwise it would have been grown instead of manufactured in a laboratory.

1/11/11

               1/11/11

                Today is a fine day to be born. It is a great  birthdate to write on any form, and it is an easy date to remember. One eleven eleven or eleventhousand one hundred eleven.Cool. Most of the day has passed already with little to mark the date. It is cccold here in misssouri with one of the two or three snows it gets in a year. Supposed to be about five degrees tonite and the wind makes it feel even colder.

                  In rural missouri today school was closed. Snow stops everything here. There are north south east and west roads stretching through farmland and farmland and woods. It is not heavily populated so cleaning the main roads is the plan so the trucks moving goods can get through. The other roads are maybe cleared once, maybe not. I don't think the dirt roads get too much attention during inclement weather, hence the need for four wheel drive and vehicles that are not too close to the ground.

                  Most everybody here has a cell phone but they don't work on all roads and it might be hours before a rescue, so the wise stay home and watch the snow freeze.

                   It is very quiet listening to the wind howl between the trees, no traffic to change or dim the sounds of nature. The isolation is chilling. Nighttime on a cold winter snow wind driven night is the sound of scary movies or should I say chilly movies. If the lights don't go out and if the heat doesn't fail it is probably one of the safest nights of the year. No fool would venture out for ill gotten gails or other ugly ideas. Everybody is staying still, snuggling under the covers, lowering the temperature in case there isn't enough fuel in the tank to last the night and hopefully until the cold spell passes. Business shut down automatically because they know no one will venture out.

                  Those roads I spoke of earlier are more hazardous because there is plenty of open space for the wind to whip through. In populated areas the wind is tempered by buildings here it just blows through from west to east or south to north sometimes north to south but seldom east to west, wonder why.

                  Keeping warm is the agenda, keeping safe from the cold, planning alternate emergency heat or warmth is a mind game. It is a distraction while reading or watching tv, as we wait for the cold spell to pass.

                  The power of suggestion, think spring, short sleeved shirts butterflies and flowers in bloom, less than two months away. Think march 21, it is a more magical date than 1/11/11.

Progress

       The automobile has changed the map of America, not simply the roads and byways but the way we live.
Back in the days of horses and mules we didn't venture far from home. We knew all our neighbors that were in either riding distance or walking distance. The culture of life centered around first, the home, the town, the religion. The needs of the time we basic. food shelter and companionship. Life was harsh, battling the elements was the primary focus. We amused ourselves with song, we sang, we played spoons or instruments, we wrote poetry or read the bible. Traveling salesmen came on horse drawn wagons occasionally and we a novelty. Growing crops and making our own homes from wood felled from local trees, cooking on campfires, being warmed by the animals that gave us our food and clothing. Watching the weather and seasons change was an added amusement as well as concern. Sanitation was a  hole in the ground.

       The industrial age advanced. Tools were no longer fashioned at home from wood and stone. The iron age gave us tools that lasted longer and did a better job. They weathered better and were easily repaired. Their durability reduced the need to constantly fashion tools. The beginning of free time. A minute more to look at the sky or linger over breakfast. More tools were being fashioned using the new iron. Sewing needles made securing pelts better than tying. The wheel moved us out of the local walking areas letting us venture into the new world.

       Soon towns and cities grew and the collective imagination of a community fostered new and wonderful expanses on the same theme, adding a new spice to a pie, trying a new way to improve the wagon, neighbors helping neighbors, fellowship and commerce.

       At the turn of the twentieth century, here in America and across the pond, the engine was being attached to the wheel, further exploration beyond the backyard, further free time, faster progress.

       Then progress took a dramatic turn, the assembly line was introduced by Henry Ford.

More, faster. Here a few men, women had not earned the right to paid wages as yet, labored doing the same thing over and over again, monotony and routine was born, the same muscles exerted over and over, the same muscles not used.

The roads began to expand, the automobile began to belch and roar as it rolled the roads, the new sounds of  human nature. Man stamping his mark on the air and ears of every creature.

More and more the auto freed time for individuals. "Easy" money was being made as labors left the farm to work building machines. Populations began to meld, more people on the move meant more people meeting, discovering new cultures blending ideas further enhancing the basic meat and potato recipe and shirt and dress design. The collective improvement of the basic, embroider a dress, add a button, add a zipper, add a snap, add a flap. The interaction of generations improving the basics, the toilet no longer a hole in the ground. Slowly improving, yet more quickly advancing with the invention of the auto, more ideas melding more rapidly.

Road travel became the hobby of the rich, investigating and discovering the wonders and beauties of the countryside. More autos, for more free time, more assembly lines, more of the same. School books suddenly became simpler, teaching less, learning less. Doing more of the same. Playing more.

Roads and more roads dot the landscape. The dots being connected into lines and dashes, the countryside being erased, the mountains melted, the water evaporated, the roads stretching and groaning, the countryside shrinking. More cars, more travel, more exploration, more distance, and what to find, more walmart, more tacobell, more, macdonalds, more pizzahut. Every town, every road, every countryside looks the same assembly line stamp of America, losing it's uniqueness and local flavor. The towns are gone plowed through for a road, a highway, a byway an expressway leading to the same destination of the same.

Maxwell House International Cafe-Kraft Foods-Hazelnut Cafe

       
         So here we are visiting with friends, and they offer us the Hazelnut Cafe which smells good and tastes okay too. But there is not a single hazelnut in the can. The main ingredient, which based on the name of the product should be hazelnuts is in fact sugar then nonfat dairy creamer with cocunut oil accounting for ten percent of the daily requirement of saturated fat using one and one third tablespoons. There are two other real ingredients in the container, instant coffee and sodium, aka salt. The bottom of the container has a best if used by date with an eighthundred number.

         Under the product name it does in fact say artifically flavored.

Now there is a thing called good faith, and another thing called false advertising and it seems that the Maxwell House division of Kraft Foods doesn't care about either. If in fact the package was correctly labeled by the main ingredient it would be SUGAR.

       Here in Warsaw Missouri nine ounces of this item costs about four dollars plus tax of course.

       When if ever did you pay four dollars for nine ounces of sugar, and why in fact would you.

       When does a food company need to be called a chemical company, probably when they stop selling food.

       When is chemicals food, when a company says it is.

       Even with the ingredients written on the label in small print and government warnings about reading labels people buy what they believe the manufacturer(as opposed to the food producer) claims is enclosed.

       We, the consumer oftentimes choose what appears before us because it creates the illusion we are susceptible to at the time also known as good advertising practices.

Next we must consider the impact of silicon dioxide on the intestines or malodexterin whatever they are.

     Perhaps they are new substances which will coat the lining of the intestines like wax does for the outside of the car to increase the life of the paint job. If so, one would like to know this before ingesting. Should the package have a warning about hazards to the health for prolonged use.

     The next among the various questions created by the package of what ever it is, how should we feel about being offered chemicals masked as foodstuffs.

       And why should we allow such practices.

The company should be called maxwell house chemical works or mh magic shop, for their ability to transform nothing into something and sell it for a fortune.

One of the Lucky Ones

             Perhaps the lost moments are why some people cry about getting old, the waisted days spent with worthless trivialities instead of doing something meaningful and worthwhile with their time.
              Perhaps it's the sagging muscles and graying hair that hides the images of youth that we mourn.

              Perhaps it's the unfulfilled dreams that will never come to fruition.

             Perhaps it's the closer to death's dooor(sic)  that we have postponed pondering.

          There are plenty of things to think about, the years reviewed, the time evaluated. Could I have done better, could I have given more, could I have made more of myself. Has chance been more instrumental in who I became rather than my choosing.

         Looking in the mirror reveals the years that have elapsed and the eyes finally see today and what I have become. How many years are left, how much more can I do, what shall I think about doing.

        Pondering the unanswered, unanswerable, with no response, no feedback but the wrinkles, receding hairline and 'liver spots'.

        I never imagined I would look like this, you say to yourself, as the shock begins to wear off.
Ah, that it should come to this.

       No worries, the anxieties of the forties are gone or the teenage anxieties fully abated, all that is left is the slowing engine that takes longer to start and runs slower that we remember.
Fast and furious has flitted away, slowly I turned, step by step and I still am in the same room where I started.

        Slow motion strutting, doing everything I did before, I still wash my face in the morning and brush my teeth, it just takes longer, at least I still remember to wash my face and brush my teeth in the morning. I still remember when it is morning.

So I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

The Present

              Maybe
               Perhaps
              Possibly
                  Then again, maybe not

       Sometimes, always, never
                   Then again, maybe not

                There are many
          There are some
                  There are few
and then again, maybe none

               When
             Then
               Now, here, there
and then again nowhere

           But
          Because
        Before
and then again, after

          You, me, we, they, ours
his hers theirs those thems?

          Today, tomorrow, and yesterday
that covers it all
time circumstance and whom
There's nothing else to say

          Tomorrow is another day
Tomorrow is another year
Tomorrow is Saturday
Every day is a gift
That is why they call it the present
a new year
a new present
a new beginning

make the best of it
make the worst of it
make something of it

Religion

   


        Religion is like sex, it's followers are adamant about their feelings and have little regard for other sects.

         That they all have holidays about the same time is worth pondering, are they all basing their beliefs on the seasons, or way back when, was there one idea splintered into variations on a theme, like Luther and King James.

          If all the books were written by men could that be the reason all their gods are men.
There are few religions today that honor female deities, if any.

           Consider the Muslim religion where they bow on their knees several times a day and the similarity to some yoga exercises.

            Could we have it wrong, the bible is really a medical guide to health and well being.
Literal translations give reference to prayer and many religions pray including Tibetan monks.

             Could the different religions be adaptations for humans to the regional weather as guides for expelling poisons from the body.

      In the 1950's there were American movies of African natives bowing from the waist with arms and hands extended above the head sorta like human fans cooling each other off, bowing to the white bwana.

    Religions also take advantage of regional foods. The Catholic church adapted meatless Fridays to give the fish industry a boost. It is no longer a sin to eat meat on Friday.

Bread as the staff of life was perhaps initiated by a cleric whose father owned a mill.

Superstition has added flavor to many customs altering their interpretation of the Scriptures.
Why when making the sign of the cross do some kiss their fingers, maybe imitating the priest signing the cross with the crucifix and then kissing it.

Statutes use to be paraded through the streets of Brooklyn for various saints holidays to collect money for the church, travelling preachers, bring god to the neighborhood because the neighborhood won't go to god.

If one considers religion as a business, their salesmen sell yo  something you have to talk yourself into believing, because nobody has returned to prove it true. Lazarus risen could have been a coma, same thing for Jesus.

Religion of course is a good crowd control and controller of some ignorant and others who are not ignorant but like the rules better than all the others.

Religion has rules for the masses to follow to live 'better' lives and the reward is a better hereafter, to make sure you all do follow the rules.

The afterlife exists in physics also. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed, like the effects of a tornado, once there was a cow, now there is only wind. Compressed particles caused by random coupling with energy forces and a thinking thing or a tree.

No one knows for sure what is so, only what they believe and refuse to believe and yet we can not tolerate any other opinion which does not agree with ours.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much"

SEX

              What business is it of any one's if someone is "straight" or "gay". Why does anyone have to discuss anyone Else's sexual preference.

              Oh he's gay, they say. so what.
why do 'they' always think about sex.
when do we have privacy.
what is the reason for discussing or mentioning any one's sexuality.

               F-- news is interesting, in that they seem to be preoccupied with homosexuality.
They seem to make it a point to mention sex a lot. They seem have no better focus than on sex.
Business is business if F-- news has someone to trash for their sexual persuasion. 

              Whether a person is a nice person is judged by whether or not they share "your" sexual preference. 

                Deviant sex is scary for some, bizarre for others, repulsive to another. There is no more tolerance, and perhaps there never was. Yet, looking at a person as a sex object is more out there with the help of F-- news. Even when you want to think about something else, someone is always talking about sex.

               When someone gets angry they say f--- , When someone wants to demean someone they say your mother is a female dog, or you are a whore. 

                Nobody says I'm angry with you because..... There is no more thought about what a person is feeling, there is simply the outburst of emotion.

                We have found it acceptable for people to react, instant action, without any idea of why there is a reaction. Why are you angry.

                 Control is gone, there is a certain madness when emotional outbursts, as at soccer games, are normal.

                  Civilization is losing it's civilization and it is becoming acceptable.
Sex and violence. That's what sells and that is what is taking over the human psyche.

                  Stoning women for adultery, in some cultures, is acceptable behavior. Sexual mutilation is acceptable in others. For some abstinence is their code of sexual behavior and their mark of identification.

                  Married women, women who have had sex and have a sexual relationship with one male person as condoned by some religions and governments, have a label, misses.

Misses declares to men that she belongs exclusively to some man for sex, i.e.,  mrs jones.
she is no longer mary jones she is mrs jones, property of mr jones, and in the old days she HAD to give up her maiden name and take on his(ah you say for the sake of the kids) poppycock,
see another sexual innuendo.

                If you listen carefully you will hear whether or not a person is preoccupied with sex. Their choice of adjectives are common and more acceptable in everyday language, with little chance of change. The only advantage is you get to know what is on a persons mind even when they are not consciously thinking. If you pay attention you will know how to protect yourself and avoid altercations with people who do not share your preferences.

                It seems to be a violent opinion about sex, people have very strong feelings pro and con about anything about sex, and they probably learned it all from their parents, and that is a whole 'nother can of wax.

Monday

Monday, a quiet day, before the Saturday that begins a new year. Not necessarily a time of reflection but a time of accomplishment. Time to hurry and do all the things we've been putting off. Time to straighten things out, neaten things up, so we can  begin the new year unencumbered.

Time to do the laundry, so there won't be any in the new year waiting.
Time to put things away so we may begin messing up again in the new year. Pile upon pile of things to do, and not the time to do them all or the time but not the frame of mind. Sometimes the mind needs to rest and let it all just sit there. Sometimes the mind cannot find the impetus to move to action to sort and order the life.

Fatigue may be the problem. A good night's sleep may be the first order of business.
Rest creates order. The mind given the opportunity to rest can sort and order the chaos. It, the mind, is like another person living in the same body. No matter what You want to do the mind does it's own thing, so you turn around and say, "who said that" or "who did that" and you are as surprised as everyone else.

The mind left to rest can astound you. When you are exhausted you cannot do it, whatever it is. and when the mind is rested you can achieve beyond your wildest dreams.

Blame and recrimination of the self is a very unkind pressure which limits productivity. Accepting that you do your best all the time AND sometimes it isn't good enough is easier to accept than you did not do your best on purpose. Who you are in the real world is always measured in real time right now. "They" whoever they are, measure you, sometimes good sometimes bad. If you always measure yourself as you do and did your best, then you are truly free. Free from guilt, and free to continue with your life, at it's best.

Dumbing down America

          There you sit in front of the tv, watching something when zap, the program is interrupted with a louder transmission of someone  saying something irrelevant to the product being hawked, and animation of persons similar to puppets.

          TV advertising does not inform nor educate an individual to the benefits or use or operation of the said item.

          It simply disrupts the ordinary flow of information to a brain shorting the circuits to distract and disrupt.

          The tv advertising community appears to be frustrated singers, dancers, and actors who have not been able to communicate a rational idea.

           The mute button on the tv gives one the ability to save the cells energy by automatically reducing the interference.

           Perhaps {tv advertising} is foreign propaganda used to control the masses by disrupting the brain cell activity by the cacophony of useless dribble, numbing the brains of Americans thereby reducing the population to blithering idiots.

          Tv advertising, tv stations, and corporations all insult the population by stealing time and energy and we allow it.

           If we stop buying the products that use objectionable or demeaning advertising, and if we stop watching the channels that show those items then perhaps the advertising, corporate, media community will begin to understand that we are interested in bettering ourselves instead of dumbing down America.

Ohio State - N.C.A.A.

                If social responsibility has any relevance then Ohio State and the NCAA ought not to permit the players who sold their autographs  for "massages" play in the bowl game.

                The issue is not that they paid for "massages" the issue is truth.
If the NCAA and Ohio State choose to lie and base their reputations upon lies then the  system they are attempting to maintain is also a lie.

                 Why would anyone choose to live a lie and select lies to be their calling card.
Should we allow the institutions to educate the students, the leaders of tomorrow, in the art of deception.

                If we as a society is to flourish there needs to be rules and these rules are not arbitrary.
Yes, there is no black and white there is only gray.
And the gray of having the future generation masters at deception is a painful reality to face.

               Lies do not work, lies do not make relationships work.
Lies are illusions, and illusions vanish. Life is only time, and the little time we have here is something that will vanish if it is based on lies. Substance is the truth that is. The more truth the more time. The more lies the more weaving of unreality and fantasy and a life lived in fantasy is an illusion.

              Lies do not work.

Do not let Ohio State and the NCAA educate the next generation in mastering the art of untruths.
They, we, are accountable and responsible. There is no free lunch. Let them learn the results of their decisions, that cause has an effect, and we have to pay for or be accountable for our actions.

N.C.A.A. - Ohio State

  

               N.C.A.A. shame on you

                Ohio State University shame on you

               Ohio State University football players who sold their autographs for massages, shame on you


          That the N.C.A.A. is allowing the players to participate in the bowl game shows how ethical they are.
The violation of the rules is a black and white issue being ignored by the N.C.A.A,

          The N.C.A.A. is condoning their behavior by not enforcing the rules.
Anyone who has any regard for the sport of football should not watch the game.
Everyone who belives in the rule of law, eveyone who respects the rule of law should let the N.C.A.A. know in no uncertain terms that their behavior in regards to this matter is unacceptable.

         How dare you, and this includes the Ohio State University, not respond and react to this behavior with the strongest of reprimand immediately.

         Anyone who hears that these young people sold their autographs for "massages" and believes that sex was not involved is deluding themselves. Women especially should protest the negative responses of the University and N.C.A.A.

         It appears the both organizations have little to no regard for women and have voted to let the world know their positions.

         And the players themselves have no respect for themselves.
Who would want to touch them. The only way they can get women to touch them is to pay them.
This is endemic to many men, Let them make rules so they can break them . Let them make rules and only enforce them when it is convenient of financially benefiting them.

       Football is a sport that for men is primal, reaching to the core of who they are and giving them reason to feel good about themselves. Every young male wants to play football or has to watch football being played. It touches them in a way women can not understand but they do understand that these young men and the young men who are grown up, RESPECT the game.

        They too should let you know how low you have sunk for the dollar and how repulsive it is.

Dial-up

          Dial-up is the slow motion of internet access. The telephone line is bombarded with data. Like a small funnel jammed with a viscous liquid that will not separate. You can take a nap while you wait for the page to turn or fry an egg in another room.

           It is the scene of the old farmer standing by the roadside watching the traffic whiz by and all the farmer does is blink. Without the investment to purchase a dish, us rural younger folks feel like the old farmer watching life pass us by.

            When there are pages with multiple photos or artwork transmitting moments pass and then it is time to shut down the computer which has frozen in cyberspace.

            The odd feeling, watching life pass you by because the technology is not affordable makes one feel poor even though owning a computer and subscribing to a dial-up connection service is a luxury and within reach. The new third world community in America's back yard.

            The Internet, the most powerful tool for the common man has done for education what Guttenberg's printing press did during the middle ages. The press moved knowledge from the hands of a select few, namely religious sects, into the hands of the masses.

           Once the masses learned to read and write they on their own, began to acquire knowledge by first purchasing books and then by borrowing them from libraries.

            The encyclopedia was a treasure trove of variety, snippets of everything to introduce you to the world. Speaking of the world, here we should mention The World Book Encyclopedia, affordable for some parent to acquire for their children to have at home to venture into the world.

           The ever expanding sources of information has informed and educated the common man beyond the poverty level climbing up from the isolation and fear of  ignorance.

            Many persons have been involved in educating freely and generously, us. These people have recognized the value of all the people growing in knowledge instead of just a few holding the treasures of the world.

            We don't often say thank you. We don't often think where we, I, you, me, would be without their generosity. A silent thank you will have to suffice, to the unknown soldiers who have shared the written work of generations, allowing us to travel to cultures foreign and new.
And as we learn and grow we may be able to return their kindness by allowing another unfunded genius to expand their knowledge and perhaps solve one of life's little mysteries or problems. Maybe something we would do would enable that individual to reach the limits and surpass them.

             happy NEW year, happy NEW age
happy technology.

VOID

                       Void is an interesting word. Actually it isn't really interesting. What is interesting is the uses for the word. Void is a term used to cancel a check, do not pay, not valid for payment, eliminate responsibility for the debt, which is very nice even though you still have to pay for the paper the void check is printed upon.

                       To void is to eliminate liquid waste from the bladder. Voiding the act of the body emptying, what is socially called water, the product produced by the cells during their performance of functioning to operate the body. The cells operate and generate useless matter ingested, a by product of the sorting process of the cells. Particles unnecessary to their operation and if stored, detrimental, therefore eliminated periodically during a twenty four hour period.

                       Void, and empty space absent of matter, usually referring to the physical universe and often in particular between the ears. There is not much to say here because there is nothing worth commenting about or the author is void of an opinion as opposed to being indifferent.

                        Avoid is not a particular empty space but the act of removing oneself from the presence of a person or situation.

                        In every example of void they are clear examples of eliminating, removing and preventing association with or contact with, that which  one deems objectionable, a negatively impacting force to be without. All instances of withdrawal from.

                         In summary, void is a positive negative perhaps an oxymoron. Void is a positive act of removing a negative that is, having the ability to evaluate and eliminate something that will have a injurious effect on the person, protecting the well being by removing the damaging situation. Good judgment in every instance with positive effects.

                          Void is a good/bad thing, it cannot be a good thing unless it eliminates a bad thing, bad, being something that has a negative effect and is better to do without, and good that it is eliminated.

                           Confused enough, let's void the whole thing.