Monday, May 11, 2009

The Medicine Cabinet Recommends

1.As a dyed-in-the-wool nerd, I'm very happy that Star Trek is getting such good reviews. I haven't had time to check it out yet, but I'm encouraged by most of what I've read, and everyone I know who's seen it has been impressed. Star Trek:The Next Generation was a big deal for me back in the day. I'm sure that Gene Roddenberry's view of a secular-humanistic quasi-utopia was influential on my developing mind. Report that Roddenberry's philosophy is more present in the restart is equally encouraging.

2.Thieves Jargon is up and running again. Looking forward to the appearance of a poem called 'Over', by Dan Ames. It's a good one.

3.The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembersby Daniel Schacter. I'm currently devouring this book. If you're interested at all in memory, this is an awesome exploration of some of the ways in which memories get lost, manipulated, and created by our mind. Good stuff.

4.Ten Principles For A Black-Swan-Robust World, By Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Some solid principles to consider as we move boldly into 'Capitalism 2.0'.

5. Lately, it's been hard to listen to Sean Hannity without feeling a little bad for the guy. First of all, Robert Gibbs wounded him deeply when he cooly and humorously put the lie to Hannity's guilt by association/Obama=Ayers tactic during a pre-election interview. Hannity can't pass up a chance to call Robert Gibbs 'the stupidest press secretary ever', often dwelling on it longer than he should, often attempting to bring guests and callers into the revealing name calling. It has to be embarrassing for Hannity to know that he was owned (on his own show) by 'the stupidest press secretary ever'. So, there's that reason to feel bad for Hannity. Another reason to feel bad for him: Glenn Beck. Beck is the new star at FOX. He's got hordes of adoring fans who attempt to integrate Beck's message of preparedness and faithfulness to God & country into every aspect of their lives. You can tell that Hannity feels the heat. He's even gone so far as to try to co-opt some of Beck's revolutionary imagery and emotionalism, somehow creating something even lamer than Beck's 9-12 project. This new development has thus far been best parodied by Stephen Colbert:

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6.Religion, Agnostics, and the Cure For Baldness, by Matt Taibbi.
First of all, why is that no professor alive can make it ten feet from his front door without sticking an a priori into a sentence? Is there some kind of subterranean lair where academics are beaten with whips and clubs until they learn to write alliterative book titles (”Pus, Primates, and Pessimism: Jane Goodall’s Descent into Septic Shock”) and lard up perfectly good sentences with epistemological catch-phrases? Weird. As for the actual argument, it’s the same old stuff religious apologists have been croaking out since the days of Bertrand Russell — namely that because science is inadequate to explain the mysteries of existence, faith must be necessary. Life would be meaningless without religion, therefore we must have religion."


7.Do We Need to Go There Again?, By Ron Bel Bruno. "Because of Dad's Alzheimer's, I had to come out of the closet twice. We got it right the second time."

8. Alright, Bowie. Let's get our Monday on:



PS: I've always thought David Bowie's bass player was incredibly hot. The boots. The bass. The baldness. Very nice. I also like that she always seems totally unphased to be on stage with David Bowie. What could be cooler than that?

6 comments:

  1. 1 I will see the new Star Trek movie. I personally am still waiting for the first Captain Video and his Video Rangers movie.
    2 I will read this poem but I am not really into poetry, except for the "There once was a man Poughkeepsie" types.
    3 I am going to check out this book. What was the name of it?
    4 Wasn't that written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1812?
    5 Sean Hannity and Glen Beck are why the Republican party will be out power for decades.
    6 I just finished reading God, Religion, and how to pull your head out of your ass. It was very interesting.
    7. Alzheimer people can hide there own Easter eggs.
    8. Bowie is good 7 day a week. And I am also attracted to unaffected bald women.

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  2. I like your point by point reaction. I'll respond in kind.

    1. Yes. Star Trek. Now that I'm married, I don't have to hide how much I love Trek. I can wear socks and sandals, I can buy stupid hats, and experiment with my facial hair. Who said marriage was bondage?

    2. Poetry isn't really important. It adds color to life, and can occassionally be quite moving, but so can a good curry. Actually, so can a bad curry.

    3. I don't remember.

    4. Yes. This is the remix, starring Vin Diesel.

    5. I disagree. While I think it would behoove conservatives & republicans not to engage in Beck-style theatrics too much, it's important for them politically to differentiate themselves from the democrats in order to provide the public with a clear alternative should Obama's keynesian experiment fail, which it very well could.

    6. It's hard to read with your head up your ass.

    7. Any time of year.

    8.reowr.

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  3. careful w. the socks & sandals spence. Even love has its limits.

    Where Sic Semper Tyrannis at? You made fun of Sean Hannity. I thought the fire'd already be started by now.

    I hope the repubs take your advice though, cause Willies right. None of them can be taken seriously anymore.

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  4. My wife has seen fashion crimes far worse than socks with sandals perpetrated by me. I think she's numb to it at this point.

    I think SST is more of an idea guy. I doubt he'll come out swinging over my pointing out Hannity's insecurity.

    Who knows, G? Public opinion is a fickle thing. I wouldn't get too confident. I think Mitt Romney is hitting all of the right keys right now. He's the party grown up right now. He pays lip service to the patriotism of those who would publicly demonstrate, and he shows up on the talk radio shows, but he usually sticks to the nuts and bolts policy wonk stuff. I think he could be a force in 2012. As for 2010, it doesn't look good for the republicans, but you never know. Alot can happen in a year.

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  5. http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/letter_of_amends_from_a_recove.html

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